New York: Principal Is Removed Over Awarding Unearned Student Diplomas

The principal of a Bronx middle and high school was removed from the school on Friday after the New York City Education Department found that for years, the staff had falsified student transcripts and given credit for courses not taken. The practice led to an artificially high graduation rate and students’ receiving diplomas they had not earned.

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In a 113-page report released on Friday, the department’s Office of Special Investigations accused the principal, Lynn Passarella, of creating a set of conditions under which only 3 percent of the grades given at the Theatre Arts Production Company School were failing. Teachers were instructed to fail only students who did not attend classes, or to give students incompletes instead of failing grades for missed work, the report said. Ms. Passarella herself, it said, erased the record of absences of some students who missed class.

“After reviewing our thorough investigation of Ms. Passarella, I have decided to remove her as principal and seek an immediate end to her employment,” Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott said in a statement. “The behavior uncovered in this report is dishonest and disgraceful, and shows a blatant disregard for principal responsibilities.”

The city began its investigation into the school, which has about 500 students in grades 6 though 12, in October 2010 after receiving anonymous complaints against Ms. Passarella. She has been the school’s principal since 2006 and is paid $145,493 a year. She did not respond to messages seeking comment on Friday.

After reports showing a suspiciously high number of students in many schools were scoring the minimum required to pass, the state ordered an end to the practice of allowing teachers to grade their own students’ Regents exams, beginning next year.

Although there were allegations of tampering with Regents tests in 2010 at the Theatre Arts Production Company School, which is known as Tapco, investigators found no evidence of teachers’ being pressured to change the test scores. But when they checked the answers of a sample of the exams, they found that teachers had awarded too many points in many cases.

City education officials responded by changing score status from passing to failing on 84 percent of the school’s living environment exams, 65 percent of the global history exams and 50 percent of the algebra exams. But no students’ diplomas were revoked as a result. That year, 94 percent of Tapco seniors graduated on time, more than 30 percentage points higher than the citywide rate.

The State Education Department flagged Tapco after an analysis of the school’s trigonometry Regents exams in 2010 found unusually high rates of erasures — instances where incorrect answers had been erased and corrected; erasures can be a sign that students were coached or that teachers changed answers. State officials also opened five investigations based on the results of erasure analysis elsewhere.

Last month, the city’s Education Department released the results of an audit of 60 high schools, in which they found problems at 55 schools similar to those found at Tapco. Students had graduated despite not meeting testing and credit requirements, and there was evidence of the improper grading of Regents exams. 

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