Chesapeake suspends fourth teacher
By MATTHEW BOWERS, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 6, 2001CHESAPEAKE -- A second test scandal at Oscar F. Smith High School has forced another teacher into involuntary paid leave and 57 more students to retake a state social studies exam.
The new allegation involves improperly helping students during a Standards of Learning test on World Studies. It comes one day after news that city school officials have similarly suspended three teachers -- two from Oscar Smith High and one from Indian River High School -- amid their investigation into last week's U.S. history tests in those schools.
Investigators determined that an Oscar Smith High teacher or teachers improperly shared the exam with students, and also sent exam material to a colleague at Indian River High, Schools Superintendent W. Randolph Nichols said in an interview Tuesday.
The investigation, begun with a tip from within Indian River High, continues to determine how the strict test security was violated, who was involved and to what extent, Nichols said.
He emphasized that no students have been accused of wrongdoing.
Between the two schools, 550 students saw or could have seen test questions or answers before the high-stakes exams, necessitating retests, he said. All of the high-schoolers will take alternate exams Thursday.
``I know the kids are unhappy about it,'' Nichols said. ``I'd be unhappy.''
Also unhappy are area teachers. James D. Caruth, director of the Chesapeake Education Association, fielded a half-dozen calls from teacher representatives by early Tuesday.
``They're upset,'' Caruth said. ``They're scared. They're intimidated. It's like the test has become a plague -- they don't want to touch it. They're afraid they'll do something wrong.''
Teachers, already stressed about SOL demands, feel that the pressure has ratcheted up since the high school test problems and last week's resignation of a Greenbrier Intermediate School teacher after a similar investigation. Her 26 fifth-grade students are retaking all five of their exams this week.
Virginia students in third, fifth and eighth grades and high school take the SOL exams, which control school accreditation and, starting with this year's freshmen, high school graduation.
Knowingly violating state test security in Virginia can result in up to a $1,000 fine or loss of a teaching license.
Superintendent Nichols withheld the names of the suspended teachers and some details of the investigations Tuesday, citing legal reasons.
He said the teachers involved did wrong -- he believes at least one did so unintentionally -- but were abetted by flaws in the state testing system.
Instead of distributing elementary tests in a single booklet at the start of testing week, he suggested that teachers receive each subject as needed. History tests need more alternate versions, he said, so questions aren't repeated as frequently from year to year.
``Teaching is a helping profession,'' Nichols said. ``When you have a high-stakes test . . . you have to get out of that helping role. And that did not occur.''
Other teachers should try not to overreact, he added.
``Some of these things that were done were so simple that there's got to be other teachers questioning themselves: `Did I do something wrong?' '' he said.
Cheating allegations didn't seem to happen with past standardized tests. But those tests weren't barriers to accreditation or graduation, the CEA's Caruth said.
Having teachers proctor their own students' tests under the pressure of the SOLs is ``placing teachers in jeopardy,'' and is something that the Virginia Education Association tried unsuccessfully to have outlawed, he said.
Confusion and anxiety remain for many teachers about limits on teaching test formats or discussing past test questions, said Marian D. Flickinger, president of the Norfolk Federation of Teachers.
``Where is the line?'' she asked. ``They're scared. For one, parents want their kids to go to a school that's rated well. . . . They'll begin to look at individual teachers.''
One of those teachers said he's retiring this month because of the SOLs.
Timothy E. Casteen, 54, a 31-year veteran fourth-grade teacher at Deep Creek Intermediate School, said the pressures hurt his family and his health. He said he's seen a ``dramatic'' increase in stress-related problems in recent years among colleagues who don't get to choose the students they feel they're being held accountable for.
``It's all SOLs, SOLs, SOLs,'' Casteen said.
``There's no excuse for dishonesty, if that's true,'' he said. ``But I'm not in the least bit surprised.''
He said he predicted the same years ago at an early SOL training session.
``Eventually, we're going to be cutting each other's throats,'' he remembered saying. ``If you're a dishonest person, you're going to cheat.''
Reach Matthew Bowers at 222-5120 or mbowers@pilotonline.com