BX. TEACH HELPED US CHEAT REGENTS: KIDS
By DAVID ANDREATTA, NY POST, March 7, 2005

City education probers are investigating a Bronx teacher for allegedly helping fifth-graders cheat on their state math exam, The Post has learned.

Two students at PS 91 in Fordham wrote statements last week describing how their former math coach Barbara Lee - who was promoted to assistant principal - told them which multiple-choice answers to circle on last year's Regents test.

"She told the class that if we needed help, she would help us," one girl wrote of Lee, who proctored the exam last May. "She gave us six answers each."

A boy wrote: "Miss Lee told me one of the questions I circled in was wrong. She was walking around the room and then she came to me and told me one of the questions in the multiple-choice part was wrong."

When the students told their teacher, who was out of the classroom during the test, the teacher instructed them to put their testimonies in writing.

Teachers and parents said the statements were turned over to the principal, Eric Casale, but that the documents were destroyed and nothing was done.

Last week, the teacher, who requested anonymity, had two students again write statements, which were forwarded to The Post, the mayor's office and the Department of Education.

"The principal is protecting the assistant principal," said Tracey Douglas, the teachers-union representative at the school.

Neither Casale nor Lee returned phone calls, but a spokeswoman for the city Department of Education said the matter is under investigation.

"I would hope that they would investigate this seriously," said Regent Merryl Tisch.

"But I also hope that no one would jump to any conclusions until a full investigation is done."

Lee was elevated from math coach to assistant principal this year - despite that fewer PS 91 students achieved proficiency on the math tests last year.

According to state Department of Education records, just over half of the 163 fourth-graders who took the exam last year scored in the top two levels, compared to nearly 62 percent a year earlier.

The percentage of fourth-graders who scored at the lowest level jumped by almost 10 points.

Test-tampering is nothing new in city schools.

In 2002, a state probe found the principal at Pacific HS in Brooklyn erased mistakes on a social-studies Regents exam and circled the correct answers.

Five years ago, the city's schools investigator charged nine teachers at eight schools with devising creative schemes to help their students cheat the Regents - including placing the answers next to a pencil sharpener.

Principals stand to gain financially from improved test scores, pocketing as much as a $15,000 bonus if scores substantially increase.

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