Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

EL PASO -- Lorenzo García, superintendent of the El Paso Independent School District, said Saturday that he stands ready to cooperate in a federal investigation of standardized testing programs and is confident the findings will show he runs an honest system.

García said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh's call for a federal review of the district was politically motivated and vengeful.

Shapleigh said the district, under García's leadership, was guilty of "cheating" on standardized tests by manipulating which students took them.

García said Shapleigh in 2008-09 wanted to form his own citizens group to oversee Bowie High School and its feeder schools. García said he eventually told Shapleigh such a system could not be implemented because it would have robbed the school board and superintendent of their authority. At that point, García said, his relationship with Shapleigh fell apart.

"This entire school year, he has complained about me. He has embellished," García said. "... He is saying anything and everything, using the power of his office, and misusing it, in my opinion."

Had Shapleigh, D-El Paso, been sincere about his concerns, García said, he would have made his complaints months ago. Instead, García said, Shapleigh waited until the campaign homestretch of a district tax referendum to publicly attack the administration on testing procedures.

The election will be Tuesday.

As for Shapleigh's allegations that lower-performing students at Bowie High were moved out
of the school so they would not take standardized tests, García said those charges had been refuted in a state investigation. But, García said, he would cooperate in a federal inquiry if it came to that.
"If the senator pulls the federal government in, we'll work with them, we'll show them our testing, our data, our computers," García said.

He said all Bowie students could be accounted for, and none was forced to transfer or pushed aside to avoid testing.

"Every kid's a face. Every kid's a person. There's no hiding students," García said.

He said some 37 students dropped out or were deported to another country. Still others moved or transferred of their own. Even so, he said, Bowie was a school with improved graduation rates. A total of 247 students graduated this year, up from 150 in 2005.

He also said he would authorize an audit of standardized testing procedures at El Paso High School because of a complaint aired by a retired history teacher, Stanton Bulloch. Bulloch said he witnessed sophomores being "reclassified" last year as freshmen so their scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test would not be considered under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

García on Saturday called Bulloch "a disgruntled employee" who retired in spring 2009 when faced with possible disciplinary action. No attempt to discipline Bulloch was ever made, García said.

Bulloch, 60, said all of his teaching evaluations were good to outstanding in a 24-year career. He said he had filed grievances against the school principal, then was retaliated against and opted to retire. Bulloch said he stood by his allegations of testing irregularities, but he agreed with García on one point.

"I am a disgruntled employee. I am disgruntled that the district wasn't doing right by the kids," Bulloch said.

Milan Simonich may be reached at msimonich@elpasotimes.com; 546-6125.