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Clarksdale principal accused of cheating grilled

Mollie Bryant
The Clarion-Ledger

A disciplinary hearing began Monday in the case of a Clarksdale principal accused of cheating on state standardized exams

Principal Lowanda Tyler-Jones is one of three Heidelberg Elementary School educators accused of cheating on standardized exams in 2013. Teacher Frances Smith-Kemp surrendered her license for two years and the state licensure board suspended Tetra Winters' license for five years following the allegations.

MDE alleges that Tyler-Jones directed and encouraged cheating on the Mississippi Curriculum Test (MCT2).

Heidelberg Elementary School Principal Lowanda Tyler-Jones, center, looks for supporters at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson, while listening as her attorney Lisa Ross, left, presents motions on her behalf before the state teacher licensure commission Monday. The commission will examine whether Tyler-Jones helped orchestrate cheating on state standardized tests in 2013 for third-grade students. The board is seeking to suspend or revoke her license.

Testimony in the hearing, expected to have around 25 witnesses in all, began with Michael Martin, Mississippi Department of Education's director of test security and interim director of the Office of Educator Misconduct. Martin said he has served as director of test security since January.

Martin said he had received no evidence to suggest Tyler-Jones had provided answers to staff or that she had access to test answers. There also was no evidence that she had given clues or hints to students.

Martin couldn't say with certainty how many teachers were involved, if they all had been served affidavits or if the cheating investigation was complete. He said he believed three or four teachers were involved in the case, but only two have been named by MDE.

Asked if he reviewed the evidence in the case before testifying, Martin said: "Very little."

Tyler-Jones' attorney, Lisa Ross, initially objected to panelists serving on the licensure commission subcommittee, because Chair Pamela Manners and Rilla Jones served during Winters' hearing in November. The commission overruled the motion.

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"It is our belief we certainly can be fair and impartial to hear Ms. Tyler-Jones' case," Manners said.

Allegations of cheating at Heidelberg followed a Clarion-Ledger article that found a dramatic increase in test scores at the school and spurred a state investigation. MDE discovered extremely high wrong-to-right erasures on students' tests, along with changes in proficiency. In the class where Winters served as test administrator, 22 students scored proficient but three remained at the same level the next year at Oakhurst Intermediate School. Thirteen students scored advanced on the math portion, but only one performed at that level the next year.

State teacher licensure commission member Rilla Jones confers during a Monday hearing on Heidelberg Elementary School principal Lowanda Tyler-Jones, at the State Capitol. The commission will examine whether Tyler-Jones helped orchestrate cheating on state standardized tests in 2013 for third-grade students.

Tyler Jones initially faced accusations of cheating in December, and her hearing was initially scheduled for January. She received a continuance until March, but that hearing was delayed because not enough commission members attended. Amid a Clarion-Ledger report on the commission's backlog of disciplinary cases, Tyler Jones' hearing was scheduled for this week — after standardized testing for the year.

Contact Mollie Bryant at mbryant2@gannett.com or 601-961-7251. Follow @MollieEBryant on Twitter.

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