Two accused in Las Vegas school cheating reinstated
State School Superintendent Dale Erquiaga responded Monday to critics who say his investigation of alleged proficiency test cheating at Kelly Elementary School was built on “manipulated and manufactured” evidence to prove a “predetermined outcome.”
The Nevada Department of Education “remains committed to a fair and appropriate investigation of this and any other testing irregularity,” Erquiaga wrote in an email to 65 of Nevada’s top education officials and elected leaders, including Clark County Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky.
But even as Erquiaga moved to defend his investigation, Skorkowsky decided to reinstate Kelly Principal Patricia Harris and Assistant Principal Steven Niemeier, who have been on paid suspension for the past four months, district spokeswoman Michelle Booth said.
Neither Harris nor Niemeier could be reached for comment Monday.
Niemeier will become an assistant principal at another school; Harris will be reassigned to another position yet to be determined, Booth said.
Skorkowsky had suspended the two immediately after Erquiaga released his April 16 report alleging cheating on standardized tests at the school, admonished the two school leaders in writing and advised Skorkowsky to take “disciplinary action” against them.
Erquiaga’s email and the reinstatements come in the wake of a Sunday Review-Journal report on flaws in the state investigation, many of which were also covered in a highly critical 18-page analysis by the union that represents Clark County School District administrators.
On Monday Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the union, also emailed Skorkowsky and other state education leaders as well as Gov. Brian Sandoval, who has discretion for hiring and firing Erquiaga.
Augspurger criticized Erquiaga’s 17-month Kelly investigation as “fundamentally flawed” and dismissed Erquiaga’s accusations as baseless.
His union’s report said the state found little concrete evidence and failed to identify any culprits.
Erquiaga in April concluded with “no doubt” that Kelly staff members changed student test answers to improve the number of students considered proficient in 2011-12.
He based the conclusion on the unusually high number of erasures on student tests and the fact that several individuals had access to answer sheets.
“I have no doubt that … student answer sheets were altered by one or more adults in the system,” Erquiaga said in April.
The “shoddy and haphazard” investigation caused “significant and irreparable harm” to Kelly students and staff, who were called cheaters “without the requisite evidence being provided,” Augspurger wrote in his mass email.
Augspurger noted that he wanted to send the union’s report to Erquiaga and Skorkowsky in July.
He met with Skorkowsky about the report, but Erquiaga refused to meet, saying the investigation was still ongoing.
“If he (Erquiaga) thinks his report was correct, why refuse to talk — refuse to meet?” Augspurger said.
Erquiaga and Skorkowsky cited the ongoing investigation in declining interviews on the subject last week, though Erquiaga was more open in his Monday response.
“Although the investigation remains open, I wanted you to have some additional information,” Erquiaga wrote, noting that he will forward Augspurger’s report to the Attorney General and to education department investigators he personally supervised.
“Based on all the evidence I previously reviewed (much of which remains confidential), I am convinced our findings and determinations were appropriate,” Erquiaga wrote.
“I don’t know how one can keep that opinion,” Augspurger told the Review-Journal on Monday.
Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Follow @TrevonMilliard on Twitter.
