Trial ordered for ex-principal in test cheating probe
A former Philadelphia elementary school principal has been ordered to stand trial on allegations of cheating on standardized tests.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports that the case against 43-year-old Lolamarie Davis-O’Rourke of Williamstown, New Jersey, was held for trial after Friday’s preliminary hearing on charges of records tampering, forgery and conspiracy.
Authorities allege that as principal at Alain Locke Elementary School she steered both students and teachers to change incorrect answers on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
Defense attorney Christopher Warren called his client “a very hardworking person, trying everything she could in her power to try to keep the school open.”
He also said that if she did anything, she did what she was told to do by superiors “whom I have not seen charged.”
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