BANGOR, Maine — Robert Lucy, assistant superintendent of the Bangor school system, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the school district investigates allegations that he told staff members to allow some students to alter their answers on a 2011 standardized test while he was Orono Middle School’s principal, Superintendent Betsy Webb said Wednesday afternoon.
A story published Tuesday by the Bangor Daily News detailed a 2011 report from the Maine Department of Education which found 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 report included statements from unnamed school employees who said Lucy told them to bring in special education students to fill in answers they had left blank or improve written responses.
“The decision to place the assistant superintendent on administrative leave does not reflect any finding or determination by the School Department regarding the assistant superintendent’s conduct while he was employed in Orono,” Webb said.
Webb said the Bangor School District would conduct an investigation of its own.
“Administrative leave is consistent with the School Department’s usual protocol for handling these types of matters,” Webb said, adding that the details in the report warrant “careful review.”
Asked if Lucy, in his new role, was in charge of testing for the Bangor school system, Webb said that while administrators at individual schools are responsible for testing protocols and procedures, “certainly the assistant superintendent has responsibility over curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development.”
Webb said she wasn’t sure how long the investigation would take.
“The Bangor School Department is going to handle it appropriately,” she said.
“Obviously, in these situations you want to be as efficient as possible,” she added, “but you cannot rush a review because it has to be thorough.”
Lucy did not respond to messages requesting comment Tuesday or Wednesday.
Webb reiterated Wednesday that she had no knowledge of the Department of Education investigation or report before deciding to hire Lucy in May.
The superintendent said “a thorough reference check was conducted” leading up to Lucy’s selection, and the Department of Education’s report and its allegations of testing violations never came up. Webb would not discuss details of who provided the references or what they said.
Webb said the school district’s hiring practices were followed and she remains confident that the job-vetting procedures of the Bangor School Department are solid.
RSU 26 Superintendent Douglas Smith said Wednesday afternoon that he contacted Webb in May after learning that Lucy had been offered the assistant superintendent position in Bangor in order to confirm that Lucy had been nominated.
During that discussion, “there was not anything [said] relative to the [Department of Education] investigation,” Smith said.
Webb did not contact Smith before selecting Lucy for the position, according to Smith.
Webb didn’t know about the investigation or the report about testing irregularities, Smith said, adding that he decided not to bring it up during their conversation.
Smith said he felt the report’s findings were “fairly nonjudgmental” and “relatively bland.” He argued that the report placed blame for the testing irregularities not just on Lucy, but on other staff members and school practices and record keeping as well.
Smith said he didn’t believe that bringing up the report in that context, after Webb had made a decision, would have been ethical and might only have served to eliminate Lucy’s chances of advancing his career by taking the assistant superintendent post.
The fact that the Department of Education didn’t sanction Lucy or take any certification actions after its investigation and only ordered that he and several other staff members at the school undergo training also contributed to Smith’s decision not to mention the report.
Had Webb contacted Smith before offering Lucy the position, Smith said he might have mentioned the department’s investigation.
The department investigated the tests of six students, five of whom had disabilities.
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.
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.
The test coordinator reported that, despite the fact that she initially refused to allow students to revisit the test as Lucy requested, she eventually agreed to do so “under intense pressure and high emotions,” said the Department of Education report.
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 negated certain responses in the students’ test booklets.
Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Wednesday that the department does not have any records of any assessment investigations involving Lucy before 2011.
Smith said Wednesday that he never asked Lucy if, before the 2011 NECAP tests, he had reviewed or asked staff members and students to modify tests after they were submitted.
Maybe he should be given a second chance!
I agree with you, after all read the court news and look at all the 2nd,3rd,4th, 5th ect.
Lets try not to hurt his feelings.
“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.”
Guess Betsy Webb reconsidered her statement. Perhaps she wasn’t counting on the outcry from concerned Bangor citizens.
More like the city attorneys weighed in…
Putting Lucy on leave is a good choice by Webb. He needs to go soon. If he comes back, it will be a huge black eye for Bangor. His certification needs to be taken by the Office of Certification immediately. He knew what he was doing was wrong. What message does this send to students? Is it okay to cheat? The poor people who were forced to follow through with the cheating. Totally unethical!
Shocking to see the Bangor School Department admit that there is a problem of any sort to be investigated. This from the same folks who deny that there are drugs problems at Bangor High.
There are no problems at Bangor High. The problems are in Prentiss Woods behind the school therefore it isn’t a school problem. But the city sayd it is students so it should be a school problem. Been that way for years.
B’ Bye Bobby!!!
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 he thought the special needs students should have the opportunity to finish their tests. They and the staff monitors may not have understood how leaving answers and sections blank might negatively affect their school? It sounds to me that the test wasn’t properly administered to these special needs kids and he was in a pretty bad predicament – submit incomplete tests and risk damage to the school or insist that the tests be allowed completion and risk damage to himself. Seems he chose the school over himself here and is now paying the price for it.
and maybe if we sprinkle enough pixie dust Tinkerbell can wave her magic wand and make everything alright.
Bending the rules so “his” school has better testing results=more funding. Maybe better preparing the students for the testing would have been a wiser option
Dr. Webb needs to go she is more concerned about football that at risk kids dropping out. No different than the numbers game thy lie about.
Seems to me, after reading ALL the documents including the response by Commissioner Bowen and his determination (after what appears to have been a comprehensive review) the entire issue was resolved almost a year ago without any suggestion that Mr. Lucy deserved any disciplinary action whatsoever. The entire issue was resolved with further, “training.” Wouldn’t it be more fair-minded to assume the investigators of the incident who had access to all the original source witnesses and information–not just the outline provided by BDN–made the correct determination. This appears to be nothing more than a personal attack seeking to smear someone who has lived and worked in the Orono athletic and academic community his entire career with a very high level of performance.
Don’t forget this section of the report Certification Action
That the Commissioner, in consultation with the Assistant Attorney General for the Department, refer this testing irregularity to the Departrnenfs Certification Office for further investigation of the personnel invoivement in the irregularity and for further action, as needed; and that the documentation provided to date tothe Department by the Superintendent and the Principal be forwarded to the Certification Office.
Nov 2011–I didn t forget… It is over except for those here trying to stir up a controversy about a guy who appears to have made a judgement call that was resolved almost a year ago.
The issue was not resolved as much as buried and swept under the rug hoping it would go away and out of public scrutiny.
I’m quite sure that everyone calling for a good old fashioned lynching of Mr. Lucy took ninth grade Civics. Let the process work it’s way-fairly.Hopefully interested students in both the Orono and Bangor school systems will see the adult decision makers at their very best. The truth will come out.
The truth is already out via the Department of Education investigation and report. His actions were that of a self-serving slime ball to make his test scores look better and his school win the Blue Ribbon Status. There have been more and more unethical administrators in the past five years. Most going on unnoticed. Like the Orono Superintendent must have given Lucy a good recommendation to help Lucy get the Bangor job and get rid of him. If so, the Orono Superintendent needs to be held accountable as well for being unethical when he knew what Lucy had done and the Department of Education was investigation. This bull happens all the time. For instance, the new RSU 20 Superintendent just presented a five year plan to his school board with rave comments from the school board. Turns out he had copied word by word another district had created and made it look like it was his own work. There is a new newspaper in Knox; Waldo called Pen Bay Pilot, go to search and type in RSU 20 Superintendent and read his response to the fact. What kind of message does this send to students? Hold them accountable school boards.
This is a bit off topic but …
While I certainly respect your opinions and your right to express them, calling yourself WeRLosingCivility and then referring to someone, anyone, as a “self-serving slime ball” damages your own credibility. Unless, that is, you’re trying to prove your screenname is accurate.
Lucy’s actions are exactly why I choose this screen name. We are losing civility in our society. Look at the drug problem in Bangor versus 5 or 10 years ago. You saw how three bodies were found in a burnt out car. Our schools are most important, yet you would not have seen behavior such as Lucys 20 years ago. I stand by my screen name and my comments. Where was Lucy’s civility when he forced staff to alter the test?
I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m merely pointing out that it’s a bit hypocritical of you to call yourself WeRLosingCivility and then revert to name-calling, which in itself shows a lack of civility.
It is not hypocritical; it is pointing out the obvious in our changing society.
It’s not only hypocritical, it’s ridiculous… How can you call yourself civil and then anonymously call someone a “slime ball” over some small-scale allegations. Then you start making accusations about what other administrators “must” have done… You are not a good example in civility.
Far worse things than this are happening in schools today (drugs, weapons, child molestation, emotional and physical abuse, etc etc etc) and were happening in schools 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago, 50 years ago…
If this is the worst thing that’s happened in the Orono/Bangor community, you should be very happy people…
I don’t even consider this a big deal… we’re talking about some special ed kids finishing some incomplete questions… give me a break… it’s not like he was imbezzling money or treating kids badly or not paying his taxes… there’s no personal gain from this at all and I don’t even know why it’s newsworthy. These are standardized tests we’re talking about – come on people. The education system can figure out the extent of the violation and exact punishment if they deem it appropriate.
No personal Gain ? if the test score were Bad do you think Bangor would have hired him? At just how much money? The problem is he got caught……………………………
Of course I do! So you think Bangor hired him and determined his salary based on Orono’s 2011 NECAP scores? Really??? Don’t you think it might have something to do with 12 years as a principal and 28 years of experience in education??
How much could the school’s overall test scores possibly have been damaged without these few special ed students tests being finished?
Could be more than just a few tests scores he cheated on . Could be the whole have to make myself look better than I am game. Lets see football coach new $7 million dollar football feild.
Yeah… he probably got over like that for almost 30 years and just slipped at the very end by Telling multiple people what he was doing for a few children with IEP’s and not trying to cover his tracks.
That’s gotta be it… he must have thought a).. geez a few tests extended for this handful of special needs kids and I can flush over 30 years of positive involvement with the Orono athletic and academic communities.
or perhaps… b) he just thought he was doing the right thing for some of his students who may not have many chances and without any subterfuge or cover-up took the actions he determined were correct and stood up for what he did.
Daggone it–nah… gotta be a) or the whole character assassination/tar&feather deal is ruined.
You say yeah so give those “special ed ” kids a break, but there is a chance that by having those children alter their answers not only created a significant increase in test scores giving Orono Middle School the Blue Ribbon award. Lucy gets the kudos for the award and carries that around on his resume’, not exactly fair. As far as the students go, how fair is it to give them the sense of great achievement when they really didn’t make those strides and next test their score is accurate and they have taken 2 steps backwards. I don’t see how that is fair to them at all.
As for Smith not speaking up, well I think he was just happy to be rid of the Lucy problem. He didn’t have to say, “He’s being investigated, but sure please take him off our hands.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think what Smith did was ethical at all. The message should be CHEATING DOES NOT PAY it will only come back to bite you in the long run.
I have to say, I don’t believe Mr. Lucy is a good role model and shouldn’t be working in the school system.
The Blu Ribbon status was awarded 2 months prior to the incident and the Department of Education–at that time–recommended, “no further
investigation… “as it would be time-consuming for both school
personnel and Department personnel, for no useful purpose.” No one accused Mr. Lucy of cheating or subterfuge or attempting a cover-up. This appears to be a smear campaign which ignores all the good done by Mr. Lucy in his other 28 plus years of service.
Department of Education investigation = Fox guarding hen house.
The education establishment is an incestuous relationship and “good ol’ boy” network. A lot like lawyers. Ever try and get a lawyer to sue another lawyer who has scr*wed you?
It is not about Special Education Children it is about the moral and ethical actions of an individual and the manner in which they conduct themselves.
Given the facts were reviewed first hand by the Department of Education as outlined in the Commissioners letter, it is difficult to reconcile your contentions with the terms, “moral and ethical.” Mr. Lucy had an obligation to meet the standards outlines in a number of IEP’s as well as the rules outlined for the NECAP tests; He made his choices and did what he did with no personal gain, no subterfuge and no cover-up. The superintendent at the time indicated he thought the extension of time was within his authority as the co-test coordinator.
It seems patently unfair to scourge Mr. Lucy in this case where like-minded individuals could make different selections (some of which could result in the school being sued for not complying with the IEP guidelines) and deny him the benefit of the doubt.
It also seems the rapid decent into name calling (WeRLosingCivility) and personal attacks are unwarranted and suggestive of an ulterior motive. Reasonable people can disagree but to sit quiet while such over the top remarks are made over what seems to be a minor issue is not. Teachers work hard to help our kids and this guy has given almost 3 decades to the Orono community. I am not willing to see Mr. Lucy or anyone so unfairly set upon by someone who at best can stand “behind a screen name,” and anonymously sling mud and distortions.
I agree.
Hey, I didn’t lie, cheat or copy someone else’s hard work and not acknowledge the reference or ask for permission. You connected to one of these Bozos?
Actually the Blue Ribbon status was awarded TWO months PRIOR to the incident and was in no way impacted by the allegations. According to the Superintendent, Mr. Lucy determined his actions were within the scope of his role as co-test coordinator and the finding of the Department of Education–at that time–recommended, “no further investigation… “as it would be time-consuming for both school personnel and Department personnel, for no useful purpose.”
Rather thank simply jump in line to tar and feather Mr. Lucy who has by all other accounts a very distinguished career of over 28 years in athletics and academics in the Orono community, wouldn’t it be more reasonable to take a deep breath and let the adults sort this out? Especially since the facts in question were exhaustively reviewed and reported on almost a year ago by the Commissioner of Education?
The real question: Was Lucey honest with the Bangor School District when he applied for the position? He knew he was under investigation for these actions at the time – as did his superiors in Orono. If he was honest about it, and the Bangor School District hired him aware of this issue, that’s one thing. If he hid the investigation from the Bangor School District then I don’t think you can blame Betsey Webb for the hiring mistake – she was clearly mislead by somebody acting unethically.
The real test begins now: knowing what is public knowledge now, does Webb decide to keep Lucey or fire him/ask him to resign? This is an important test of Webb’s leadership abilities.
The real story here is that kids who receive special education are being forced to cheat on tests to make the adults look better by generating false results. What does that say about our educational priorities. Somebody want to tell me how the NECAP does anything to educate our kids?
Don’t think that this is his first mistake, or the first time his actions have been covered up. As the football coach, he made a very derogitory remark about the Orono Cheerleaders infront of the team, coaches, the opposing teams AD and parents. Yelling “are those S___ts out yet?” When complaints were made to school officials, if was egnored. The cheering coach and parents were told to drop it. What a role model! Why did he leave Orono, where he had worked for so many years? What does this teach our children. It’s ok to cheat? It’s ok to lie?
You know if you had a special ed child how you would like it if the child was always being told you can’t do this? Your to dumb you can’t finish this test on time, These are special ed kids. give them some slack. I don’t care if it takes these kids one day and into the the next to finish a test. The major accomplishment is, they finished a test!
That is not what he did. Help ordered that they would be allowed to alter the test, if I read it correctly..
That is not exactly what the Commissioner found. It seems as though it may be wise to take a deep breath here and let the professionals revisit the investigation from LAST YEAR (2011) which did not find Mr. Lucy deserved any specific discipline, rather required multiple persons associated with the event to attend additional training. With 28 years as a distinguished educator, it seems to me that Mr. Lucy deserves the benefit of the doubt, particularly when dealing with special needs children.
Keep trying to put lipstick on this pig. It still smells.
As a parent of two special needs children, I can tell you that they are already legally allowed to have extended time on tests as long as it is in the students individual education plan that the teachers/parents/guardians develop. It has to be part of the IEP plan, but also, the school must submit a formal request to the testing agent to get it approved with supported documentation required . It sounds to me that it is alleged that Mr Lucy gave extended test time to students who were not legally authorized to do so.
As far as I know not on standardized test. There are a few mods but not by much. That is the reason he did it. When I worked Sp.Ed. we even had the principal come over the loud speaker and even blame Sp.Ed. for throwing our scores ( on MEAs ). It was a rotten thing for him to do and our kids were teased bad about it ( high school ). They do bring down the scores and it does not seem fair but that is/was how it worked.
B” Bye Bobby !!!
Wow… How many years have you been saving that ax? Mr. Lucy ran a tough, successful and very well respected program. He was a very committed and intense coach that sought to bring out the best in his players on the field athletically & off the field academically. To go back 20 plus years regarding an unsubstantiated contention such as yours seems to bolster the idea this is a organized smear campaign. Let’s see if we can stick to the facts (including his untarnished 28 year tenure) outlined in the articles and the attached report by Commissioner Bowen (Nov 2011) which clearly do not support your contentions.
Public sector misdeeds = Paid Administrative Leave. Private sector misdeeds = Fired. You can be so much kinder with taxpayer money than would otherwise be the case.
Hey Channel 5 had him on today getting an award for some reason. Way to go Channel 5. By the way, where was there report on this? Hope its on their news tonight.
Bangor School Department have to investigate first or could risk being sued. Happens all the time in school districts and is what their high profile lawyers tell them to do. I am sure Webb was on the phone with their lawyer yesterday. And this was the lawyer’s recommendation.
Where do kids in the resource room go to get a second chance on their test answers? In the resource room with their teachers feeding them the answers. Where do well paid taxpayer financed Superintendents go to get a second chance on their answers? To their cushy office to get spoon-fed responses from their also well paid taxpayer funded lawyers of course. And our tax money spins round and round as down the drain it goes.
and who cares?
Apparently a lot of people.
This is exactly why “No child left behind” falls so seriously short for children with disabilities. I am the parent of two special needs children, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that I knew that this would happen eventually. I actually met Susan Gendron-Who was head of the Maines education department at the time) years ago when she first presented this to parents at the school. I told her that this legislation would hurt the very kids it was intending to help. I told her that schools would not be thrilled to receive special education students for fear of dragging test scores down, and losing funding because of it. The worse part is, is that kids ARE getting left behind because of the “no child left behind” fiasco. The intentions were good, but number 1. there is no accountability and enforcement other than financial punishment and 2. The government has failed in its promise it made years ago to provide a substantial amount of financial support to school districts that have special education students enrolled to off set the cost to the schools that provide services. The government promised in writing to a certain percentage of funding, and they have never kept that promise.The end result? School budgets do not have the resources they need to help ALL of their students. Bad test scores, mean less money for school budgets. This isnt rocket science. If the allegations against Mr Lucy are true, then shame on him. I can certainly see how he would be tempted to do this. I feel badly for the teachers, because this “No child left behind” law has only given them more paperwork to do, and less time to devote to helping students NOT fall behind. The students are the real losers here.
Ask any teacher… This G W Bush legacy is worse than him ducking “Nam “…like his buddy The Penguin!!!
It’s not nearly as bad as Obamas Race to the Top. In fact, that’s what Lucy was doing. Cheating to get to the top. I feel sorry for the family and the shame this brings for them.
Most people feel cheating involves some sort of subterfuge. There is clear evidence that Mr. Lucy was not trying to “cheat to get to the top,” as you contend. He made no effort to conceal his actions or cover up what he was doing. He received no benefit from his intervention and the Commissioner reviewing all the facts from original testimony and investigation as well as Mr. Lucy’s supervisor declined to take any disciplinary action–determining further training was in order for multiple individuals involved.
How about we take a look at his almost 30 years of service and give him the benefit of the doubt.
The other problem is that we have expanded the definition of special needs and disability to the point that otherwise normal healthy children fall into the category and the financial burden of meeting absurd accommodations is breaking the bank. We all know of kids who have genuine issues. THEN we have the kids for whom the REAL issue is a complete lack of meaningful parenting. What do we expect? If kids aren’t obligated to go to bed at a meaningful bedtime, aren’t provided with three square meals a day, are allowed limitless access to the web, internet, texting, x-box, and are never outside getting exercise or fresh air, do we REALLY expect these kids to stay awake and learn at school??? No wonder they fall into the category of special needs.
I do agree that there is over-diagnosing going on. There is also over medication going on. Some kids need medication, others do not. A label should not automatically mandate medication. My son for instance is autistic. He was severely autistic in his younger days, but with good intervention services and a lot of love and hard work from us-his family-has made enough gains that he is more moderately autistic now. I too was pressed to medicate my son. Tried it once to make the DR happy. Figured he knew best. WRONG. I took my son off of medication after only 2 weeks. He is now a Junior in high school and is not on any medications. Hasnt been since that one time when he was 5 years old. Dont get me wrong. Some kids need medication. Parents have to do their homework. They know whats best for their child. The doctor sees their kid for a maximum of 45 minutes a year? They dont KNOW your child.I have also worked in school systems, and have seen kids correctly diagnosed, and in-correctly diagnosed. I have also seen parents fight the school system to get their child diagnosed. Most of the time there is a real issue, but sometimes its not an issue that necessarily has to have a special needs label. I know what you mean about parenting. I’ve seen the effects of bad parenting on a child as well. Either way you look at this issue, there definitely needs to be something done about “No child left behind”. Its hurting the very kids its supposed to help. The federal government also needs to step up to the plate and help schools financially off set the costs associated with special needs students like they promised a long time ago.(Probably will never happen, but one can at least hope)
Reading the Commissioners report and the recommendations, it seems to me we are rushing to lynch a distinguished educator with almost 3 decades of experience for an action which appears to have been motivated by a desire to help some special needs children. The “Blue Ribbon,” designation was already awarded, Mr. Lucy received nothing for his decision to intervene AND there is Zero evidence that this represents a pattern or practice. He made no attempt to cover this up and clearly proceeded as he thought best despite the personal exposure. I say hats off to Robert Lucy for standing up for a few kids who may not have that many chances at the brass ring.
Explain how helping these children cheat on a test intended as an evaluation of the school in any way “helped” the children?
And if this test was intended to evaluate the children’s academic progress explain to me how helping them cheat in any way promotes those children’s welfare?
The only person getting anything positive from this cheating was Mr. Lucy by making his performance appear to be better than it really was. Can you say resume enhancement.
This is what is the result of placing too much emphasis on standardized testing. When students, teachers, and administrators have so much pressure on them, this is bound to happen. This is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. Every state that has adopted high stakes testing has endured some sort of cheating scandal. In some places the cheating has been massive. It doesn’t matter if you fire one administrator, or a teacher, the replacement will be under the same stress and the result will be the same.
Mainstreaming ESE students, and holding them in some instances to the same criteria as regular ED students is a failure. As a 41 year math/science teacher, I can honestly say that the “least restrictive environment” may be the law of the land, but in a practical application it does not always work.
Google “high stakes cheating” and you will see many articles where this same thing has taken place. Some state now place part of the teacher’s salary on how well they test. These states can expect to see massive cheating in the near future.
When a teacher has done their best, and by the luck of the draw gets a group of below average students, you better believe that the survival instinct will kick in and cheating will occur. Besides who will volunteer to teach the low level students??? None of the good teachers will, because they know the ultimate result – no gain = teacher pain.
No matter what you have heard about teacher unions, don’t believe it. A principal or superintendent can remove an incompetent teacher even with tenure. Most administrators are just too lazy to go through the legwork/paperwork to do it. Many principals don’t look very hard for this kind of behavior in their teachers because it makes their school look good. It boils down to hiring guards while testing is going on, then we will put guards on the guards.
This is a disheartening effect of radical school changes being made by a political group, and the huge firms that now make millions of dollars each year selling these tests, and scoring to school districts.
Get used to it, teachers are human too.
You are 1000% exactly spot on. Teachers feel your pain….the problem is that our hands are tied. If we try to help students achieve on the test, we are cheating, if they don’t, we aren’t teaching.
I am glad to know some parents are aware of this. Most of this crap can be blamed on legislators who will do anything to get a vote. Many of the people passing laws that govern schools haven’t set foot in one in decades.
Pressure being placed on teachers by building principals when administrating standardized tests, and more commonly refusing to provide passisng grades to students who have not mastered the curriculum is more common than the public would suppose. Additionally, holding students with special needs responsible for the failings of an individual school is frequently business as usual. Despite the clear denials of responsibility of these students by state officials, I was told by two different building principals that it was the fault of these special needs children that presupposed the building to tank at testing intervals and lead to a negative school performance rating. How sad! Ken
Supers don’t want issues in their schools.. I am guessing there are at least 50 sexual assults in the Bangor schools per year on the low end and yet none ever get reported to the Police. Do you know why? How would it look with them at the helm.. It’s not about the Kids or Education its about preception.. Hey we never have issues at our school.. I know that sexual assults happen. The Administration convinces the Parents that it the first time it’s happened in the school and they will take care of it in house.. Since there is shame and the victims think they are the only ones they hide it.. Under student confidentiality laws the school can hide the truth from the public and other parents.. You never hear of an arrest because they hide everything to look good.. Students, students… teachers, students it all gets brushed under the table and quickly.
A Webb of deceit indeed. Meanwhile she is absolutely ruthless to folks who don’t understand that it is her way or the highway.
Does this mean he won’t do the UM-Albany football game on radio Saturday?
Buh-bye cheater.
This kind of score padding is very common and is the inevitable result of applying market techniques to education.
BDN, How about posting the Department of Education’s report for us to read?
It’s posted. There’s a link in the story.
Second paragraph of the story includes the link to the Commissioners report concluded in 2011. It is difficult for reasonable people to entertain comments by posters who can’t be bothered to let the facts get in the way of a good old fashioned smear campaign.
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
Right on! Even in Bangor or Orono or anywhere, of course it’s all Bush’s fault!
Remember the “Teacher of the Year” in Atlanta? Don’t think she was given any leave, paid or otherwise. ” Honesty is not always the best policy” for many teachers and administrators when it comes to aiding students–writing essays for the latter and helping them during test time, etc. might be all too common.
” Most of this crap can be blamed on legislators who will do anything to get a vote.”
Why blame legislators for doing what the people who put them in office want them to do? Blaming most legislators for anything he or she says or does is like blaming a puppet in a Punch and Judy show for moving this or that way or for saying this or that.
It takes money to put a person in the legislature and we know who has the money. If you don’t move the way the strings are pulled, corporate America’s media will come down hard on you the next time you run, and if you want the bucks for those essential TV ads, you’d better vote for the interests of the people with the money.
How many years do you suppose you could support an entire Maine school district with just the money that’s being spent to defeat Angus King?
If working people and teachers and small business owners want someone in the legislature to represent them, let them go out and buy their own.
The humble Farmer
I find it amazing that Senior Management know ‘nothing’! We have computers in every department in theis State and By Golly they can’t communicate with one another. Not even in their own Education Dept when they are in the process of hiring Senior level directors/superintendents/principals.
Does anyone think the timing of this coming out is curious??? 2 days before he’s inducted into the Orono Hall of Fame, these allegations are printed in the paper?
I agree – it’s a smear tactic by some folks in the Orono school system that don’t like him. There are some in the Orono community who feel he’s had preferential treatment because of his success within the athletic department.
Some of these morons commenting are an incredibly sad example of common sense and humanity. I do not believe allowing a handful of special education students to complete their test answers could have possibly skewed the overall results of the school’s testing…
If someone dedicated 30 years of their career to a school system, they obviously care deeply about students and the community. With all of the horrible things that are going on in the world today, this seems like a pretty benign technical violation. Yes, rules are rules, but obviously there is intense pressure on these test results. It doesn’t make sense that someone would risk their career on it. There is likely much more to this story than what this reporter has painted. People shouldn’t rush to judgement.
Can you say cheater?
Here is what I get from your comment.. It depends who you are weather its OK to violate laws and rules
What laws are you referring to? I didn’t realize there were laws relating to standardized tests… If a rule was broken, then it’s reviewed and punished accordingly. Let the investigation play out. These are people trying to make a living and do a good job running their schools. People need to chill out.
I’m curious, are you a Patriots fan? Do you consider Bill Belichek a cheater from the spygate scandal? Should the Patriots give back their championships? Should Belichek be banned from the NFL? They broke a rule, got punished and everyone moves on with their lives…
Cheating to win is not a victory… How does this benifit the child???
I m interested in discovering where–other than the comment section of this article you find anyone who labels Mr. Lucy a “cheater?”
You must be more naive than your posts suggest. While it may be relatively benign, and I am not giving you that, it is so much more than just about the violation. It is about the moral and ethical standard to which educators hold students. We should not have greater ethical standards for the students than we have for the administrators. It is about honesty and depth of character.
Agreed. Mr. Lucy has had a very long run of great achievement in the classroom and in athletics. Reading the entire story, it appears most of the comments simply do not reflect the information readily available in the articles and report.
Bottom line, thirty years of award winning public service should at least entitle him to a fair review of all the facts rather than a smear campaign designed to blacken his name.
How many other years of that “award winning public service” were the awards helped along by cheating? Only this time he got caught.
That is the problem with getting caught cheating. It places everything you have ever done in question.
Why do these allegations of improprieties always surface right after someone wins an award or is recognized in some public way?
got it.
Jealousy–small-mindedness. The new web-based ability to launch anonymous smear campaigns absent personal consequences.
This is what Bangor needs Administrative Leave with pay. Was this what the person got that was the head of Safety..
I don’t understand why anyone would risk his career for any reason. It seems the pressure must be tremendous to have special education students pretend they’re just as brilliant as the rest of their classmates. If that’s the case, why are they in special ed?
These people don’t care.. They do what they want in front of people without fear because they have always been protected by their bosses..
This kinda thing is what made his career in the first place. Do you think if he did not at least look like he preformed well he would have been in this position? He just got caught.
So you’re suggesting that he “made his career in the first place” on trying to inflate special ed student test scores? Wow… that is hilarious! That is the most amazingly absurd thing I have read on this page and I’ve read some pretty foolish stuff.
Thanks for that – it tells me a lot about the negative posters.
Best of luck to you.
I am saying some people avoid the negative at all cost. That is being very dishonest . When you ask something negative they avoid it something positive they emphasize it. Why can they not tell equil truths? Like saying the drop our rate is 5% but not telling you move info about what percentage of kids really to not graduate. It may be the truth but still misleading almost out right Lies
Damn that 30 years of good service–all out the window resulting from an action reviewed by the Department of Education–at that time–recommended, “no further
investigation… “as it would be time-consuming for both school
personnel and Department personnel, for no useful purpose.”
Ridiculous!
The Bangor School system seems to think it is OK to hire someone close to retirement age in order to make Bangor taxpayers fund their pensions in 3 years… Why not hire someone younger who will be there for 20, 30 years and get more Bang for the pension buck…
Fire them all. self absorbed bunch
Maybe they hired him for the 28 years of experience unrelated to this tempest in a chamberpot.
Dr. Webb is in denial about the drop out rate at Bangor High School. One of the highest in Maine . All the teachers are instructed to say the dro out rate is only 5% and 80% of kids go to college . I can assure more than 20% do not graduate. Taking to a school board member I was told again the drop out rate is about 5% . I said what are the real numbers ? ” The truth is know body know” I was told . How much dose Dr. Webb Make ? and they do know even know how many kids finish school? They need a new football field at $7 million dollars . Lets compare them to other schools with No football . Hmmmm higher drop out rate? The truth is Dr. Webb dose not care about at risk kids they are just a number . Not helpful to test scores. Seems like when her son was somehow involved In the Ralf Greenlief homicide nothing became of it. I would care to bet if those were lower class kids the outcome would have been different. Lets no lie and distort the truth to make yourself look good. Dr.Webb if you do not know what the drop out rate of your schools are I think you need another job. Lets not complain about people on welfare or drugs is we do not care about them in school.
Here are the facts, not the fiction, about the dropout rate at Bangor High:
3.18%
http://www.maine.gov/education/gradrates/gradrate1011.html
fiction
Lmao you work for Betsy? 3.18% it still rank Bangor like 15th out of 200 school . How to you figure only 3% drop out when way more than 20% do not graduate? Please tell me .
I would say between 10th and 15 highest drop out rate out of 200 school would make Bangor one of the highest.
i think all standardized testing is a bunch of BS, they prove nothing at all… kids will learn and remember things on there own….. most kids don’t like sitting in a class setting all the time… look to see how popular utc is on the corner of mt hope and hogan road is… some of the programs there are full to the max…. some kids get in as sophomores… because they hated sitting the classroom at there sending school there freshman year… i agree the special needs kids need more time to finish there test and who should be in charge of over seeing…. there should be other arrangement made for special students to take the test…. the meas and the other test that i took were a bunch of crap because students had different test…. if they want standardized testing done right all of the test though out the usa need too be the same test….
Tip of the iceberg.
Most of the public education system in this country is riddled with corruption and rotten to the core.
Too often students at the lower-grade and middle-school levels watch teachers give some students numerous chances to re-do their homework or assignments, and let them use notes for tests. In some cases, these students are the more disruptive ones who think it’s funny to get detention, to disturb the class, and to pit teacher against the other students who complain about them. For the students who don’t get the do-overs or the notes, they find this to be unfair and not because they want the do-overs but because they want the other students to have one chance only at a test or homework assignment.
I don’t blame the teachers. They’re trying to help these children learn, if it means giving them another chance to go over the material again. But I blame the parents for not pushing their kids to do well and sitting down with them to help them with homework. (parents say, “eww..math …” Yeah, real motivational statement.)
Now get up to the community college level and you’ll find students given numerous chances to get the assignments right. They come up with all kinds of excuses as to why they didn’t get it done or that they didn’t understand the assignment. Too bad.
We’re becoming a society where some people are being coddled instead of pushed or inspired — and that’s not fron the teachers. Unfortunately, they have to be too many people — teacher, counselor, parent, disciplinarian — to kids instead of just being able to teach.
Lucy’s father was the longtime head of Judicial Affairs at UMaine and a highly respected guy–and, so I hear, a stickler for following the rules. Wonder what he thinks of his son’s behavior as alleged?
Since the report was finalized Nov 2011, it seems to me Dean Lucy would be disgusted by all the unsupported attacks on his son who is also very accomplished, highly respected and by all accounts very fair-minded.
Unsupported? Click on the link in the story that takes you to the State’s final investigation report.
I read it before making any post on the subject. The commissioner’s response seems to mirror the initial information… The Blue Ribbon status was awarded TWO months PRIOR to the incident and was in no way impacted by the allegations.
According to the Superintendent, Mr. Lucy determined his actions were within the scope of his role as co-test coordinator and the finding of the Department of Education–at that time–recommended, “no further investigation… “as it would be time-consuming for both school personnel and Department personnel, for no useful purpose.”
Additional training was implemented for multiple persons involved.
No suggestion of cheating, personal reward or cover-up is made by the commissioner. Sadly the BDN article does not provide a forum for all the good done by Mr. Lucy as a coach, teacher & administrator over the past 28 years instead of this put up piece.
WHY was this article revised at 7:18p.m. AND Dr. Webb’s initial response OF:
“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.”
WAS REMOVED FROM THE REVISED ARTICLE???
Dr. Webb’s family member has been able to stay out of the papers for committing an alledged assault wherein a man died– where others wouldn’t have had that luxury. (Grand jury didn’t indict NOR would police release the name(s).. BUT now names are released as there’s a civil suit case).
VERY STRANGE..almost seems like special treatment??
Dr. Webb’s initial comment is important regarding her views on the situation, and if she had any prior knowledge re: Mr. Lucy.
I hope the school committee will thoroughly investigate this newest issue…. without the pressure for the committee to always be ‘in consensous’ as was written about in the BDN last spring.
A good school system needs transparence.
Way to set an example, Mr. Lucy….someone today’s youth can all look up to.
Interesting…
Could the cuts to Education under the LePage Administration be a contributing factor?
No, does not weigh in with this particular scenario
Who provided this information to the paper? Are you going to publish an article representing the other side?
Whose interest is (was) to pass judgment without due process?