[MCP] ex-principal faces violations

[John Lindsay]

 http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/394252.html

Posted on Sat, May. 03, 2008

Ex-principal 'driven by test scores'
Report accuses her of violations
By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ at HERALD-LEADER.COM




Peggie Petrilli resigned from Booker T. Washington in August.
 The school board's findings on site-based decision-making violations (Exhibit 2) 
 Allegations initially submitted to the school district (Exhibit 1) 
 Report on investigation into allegations against principal Peggy Petrilli 
 In just one year under Peggy Petrilli's leadership, test scores improved dramatically at Booker T. Washington Academy in 2006.And in her six years at Northern Elementary -- another poor, low-performing school -- the jump in scores was even greater. The achievement won national attention and led to Petrilli being named state principal of the year in 2005. Some called it the Northern miracle. But a sweeping investigation recently completed by the Fayette County school board calls those gains into question. And it may lead to a wider probe by the Kentucky Department of Education.A report written by school board general counsel Brenda D. Allen accuses Petrilli and some Booker T. staff of engaging in testing irregularities, improperly holding students back a year, misleading parents, circumventing the school's site-based decision making council and retaliating against parents, records show. Petrilli, 59, resigned last August and later filed a lawsuit against the school board.'During interviews, staff and parents provided that everything at Booker T. Washington Academy under Peggy Petrilli's leadership was driven by test scores,' Allen wrote. 'They indicated, if it didn't help to raise test scores, it wasn't an option.' The report has been forwarded to the Kentucky Department of Education, which has the power to invalidate test scores for those years. If scores are invalidated the schools may face sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.The report also has been forwarded to the Education Professional Standards Board, which licenses teachers and administrators.The Herald-Leader obtained the report, written April 23, through an open-records request. Allen investigated 50 allegations, conducted approximately 50 interviews and reviewed thousands of records, according to the report.A spokeswoman for the state education department said the agency will investigate all allegations it receives. An attorney for Petrilli said she did not break a single law. Attorney J. Dale Golden suggested the report is designed to discredit Petrilli's lawsuit against the school district.Golden said Superintendent Stu Silberman forced Petrilli to resign after confronting her with allegations from parents in August. Golden questioned why the school board is releasing a report nine months after Petrilli resigned, and he called the report misleading.Golden said Silberman was pressured by parents to replace Petrilli, who is white, with an African-American at the largely black school off Georgetown Street in North Lexington. A new principal, Wendy Brown, was hired in April. She is black. 'Peggy was brought in to change the schools,' Golden said. 'Whenever that happens, there is going to be push back from staff and parents. And then the administration has to decide whether it's about the kids or it's about being politically expedient.'Golden pointed to several complaints that parents made in a letter given to Silberman that he says supports his contentions. They include complaints about a lack of black teachers and a demand for a principal that has 'cultural appreciation toward all of our families.''How is that going to be fulfilled if the white teachers are doing a good job and don't want to leave?' Golden said.District spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said the district began the investigation not long after receiving the complaints. She said Petrilli had the option of being suspended with pay while the investigation was pending.The investigation was completed because the district had promised to get answers, Deffendall said.Petrilli was principal at Northern Elementary from fall 2000 to March 2005. She was principal at Booker T. from March 2005 to August 2007. In February, she filed a lawsuit against the board and Silberman claiming she was forced to resign because of reverse discrimination.Pattern of activitiesPetrilli and her staff are accused of engaging in a pattern of improper activities at Booker T. that potentially inflated test scores on the Kentucky Core Content Test.'All of those who were interviewed confirmed that under Ms. Petrilli's leadership, they engaged in the same practices at Northern,' Deffendall said. 'That has been reported to the Kentucky Department of Education. And it will be up to them to take it from there.'In the 2005-06 school year, the academy had 513 students, 175 of whom were in the third through fifth grades and required to take state tests. In the 2006-07 school year, it had 597 students with 212 in third through fifth grades. The report states that in a two-year period about 100 students were improperly held back a grade at Booker T., in some instances on the first day of tests. Students who were performing poorly on practice tests were selected for demotions, including one student who had grades in the 80s and 90s.Meanwhile, students who did poorly in class work -- in one instance a student had a 29 average in science and a 59 in math -- but did well on practice tests were promoted, according to the report.One unidentified staff member said this was done to 'boost scores.' This 'had the effect, intended or unintended, of delaying the state testing, thereby making them at least one year older with one more year of schooling before they took their first nationally norm-referenced assessment or state required assessment with scores attributable to the school,' Allen wrote.Several parents told the district they were misled or pressured into agreeing to hold children back, particularly in the weeks leading up to state testing each April.When 19 students were moved back a grade in September 2005, parents were told that their third-grade children were having trouble reading and would be placed in classes that covered both second-grade and third-grade material, according to the report.The children would be promoted to fourth grade at the end of the year and would stay on schedule, parents were told.That did not happen. The children were actually placed in second-grade classes and were not taught third-grade material. And the next year they were placed in third grade. A professional staff assistant told Allen that while the letters to parents did not communicate that the children were being demoted, it was quite clear to them what was happening.Petrilli did not improperly demote a single student, Golden said. The decision to hold students back was made after weeks of consultation with parents, he said.'None of this was secretive or anything like that,' Golden said. 'We fully intend to address that in this litigation.' The report alleged that:• When Petrilli first arrived at the academy in September 2005, she moved 19 third-graders to second grade without consulting teachers or reviewing past grades, as required by law. The decision was based on how they performed in a series of tests conducted at the beginning of the school year.• Petrilli misreported the number of students who were not academically promoted, which inflated test scores. In the 2005-06 school year, 62 students were demoted from third to second grade. But Petrilli only reported 43 demotions to the school district.• Students' private files, which include grades and test scores, were left unsecured in the school library during the summer of 2007.• The site-based decision-making council drafted only one policy in its first two years. 'This lack of policies permitted Ms. Petrilli and her leadership team to make decisions as they deemed appropriate in areas that are by law, under the authority of the SBDM,' Allen wrote.• Petrilli retaliated against critics on the site-based council. The day after a mother of a special-education student requested that meetings be audiotaped, Petrilli reported to a school-district administrator that the family was not living in the school district. The allegation was not true. Another allegation of potential test tampering couldn't be substantiated because the tests are in the possession of the Kentucky Department of Education, not the school board.According to witnesses, Petrilli and staff members reviewed completed tests with pencils in hand and discussed students' answers 'for hours on end' in a closed room, the report states. On one occasion, somebody suggested changing a student's answer, a witness said. Petrilli denied the accusation. Under the law, school officials are allowed to review tests only to erase stray pencil marks.Golden said an official in the administration approved the demotion of the 19 students.'It is puzzling why that is being raised,' he said.Golden noted that many of the allegations in the report were not made by parents last year.'Are they truly investigating the complaint? Or do they have an ulterior motive?' Golden said.Deffendall said the school district had an obligation to investigate allegations of improper activity it received during the investigation. 'I had parent permission'In another allegation, computer records found that a secretary moved a fourth-grader to third grade on the day of a state test, according to the report. Caroline Hellard reported that a student had withdrawn from the fourth grade on March 19, 2007, and re-enrolled as a third-grader the next day.But other computer data showed that the demotion actually occurred on April 24, 2007, the first day of testing, according to the report. The student had passed all classes and was less than five weeks from being promoted.Even after the student was demoted on paper, the student remained in the fourth-grade class with the same teacher for the rest of the school year. By law, the student should have taken the fourth-grade test, according to the report.Hellard told Allen that she did not recall who ordered her to move students back a grade. She said the only persons who would make those orders would be assessment coordinator Leigh McCauley or a professional staff assistant.Hellard said Friday evening that she was simply following orders. She said she does not recall demoting the student.McCauley said she did not order any improper demotions.'I categorically deny anything that was said about me,' McCauley said. 'I didn't do anything.'Allen confronted Petrilli with the accusations in a December interview that the district says was conducted at Petrilli's request.Golden said Petrilli agreed to the interview to clear her name.Petrilli, according to the report, acknowledged that she had authorized employees to demote students in the days leading up to tests and held students back solely on their performance in practice tests.'I did the same thing when I was principal at Northern,' she said. 'Is that wrong? I had parent permission.' A resignationAll staff named in the report, save Petrilli and McCauley, are still employed by the school district, Deffendall said. She declined to say whether the school board will seek to discipline them.McCauley resigned Thursday, citing family and business obligations. McCauley said Friday her resignation is not related to the report.The school district will work with students' families to determine how to address issues raised in the report, Deffendall said.'There are a number of issues that were discovered in the course of this investigation that will take some work and time at the district and school level to resolve,' she said. 'We will work closely with the staff, the new principal and our families to resolve any of these issues.' Tests skyrocketed at Petrilli's former schoolsCommonwealth Accountability Testing System scores at Northern and Booker T. Washington elementary schools:* Booker T. Washington Academy was created with the merger of the Academy at Lexington and Booker T. Washington Elementary schools in 2005. The year before Petrilli's arrival, the Academy had a CATS score of 56.5 and the former Booker T. had a 53.8 out of a total possible score of 140.Northern Elementary2000 54.82002 57.92004 72.1Booker T. Washington Academy2006 66.4* What's next• The report by Fayette County school board attorney Brenda D. Allen is likely to play a large role in Peggy Petrilli's reverse-discrimination lawsuit against the board. Petrilli's attorney, J. Dale Golden, said he will aggressively challenge the report. The lawsuit is pending in Fayette Circuit Court. A trial date has not been scheduled.• The Kentucky Department of Education will investigate the allegations. The most dramatic action it could take would be to invalidate test scores for the years in question, which would probably trigger sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.• The Education Professional Standards Board will decide whether to conduct its own investigation.• The school district declined to say whether it will attempt to discipline staff members the report accuses of wrongdoing.• The district said it will work with parents and teachers to address issues raised in the report. 
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