Carruth said Pagan told him that the previous acting principal, Frederick Clayton, had not let scores go down.

Carruth said Pagan told him that he would get the High School Proficiency Assessment tests two weeks before the exam would be given to 11th graders.

After the tests were counted and secured by a school official, Carruth said, Pagan told him to use a razor to slice open a test. He was told to devise an answer key that could be used later to check students' responses, he said.

Next, he was told to make three lists: students likely to fail, those likely to pass, and those in between, he said. At least 50 students needed to pass, he said. Sixty students took the test.

After the students took the test, Carruth said, he was then to "work on" their tests with his answer key. Carruth, a doctoral candidate, has a bachelor's degree in economics.

Carruth said he was stunned.

"He never asked me, 'Can I count on you?' He just said it as if I would do it."

Over the next few days, Carruth told several colleagues of his meeting with Pagan, including Paula Veggian, Brimm's scheduler. Veggian confirmed to her lawyer, Morris Smith, that Carruth told her of the alleged cheating scheme within days of that Jan. 21 meeting, Smith said.

Earlier that same month, Veggian had filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit against the district, alleging that Clayton, the former acting principal and guidance counselor, had altered grades, and that the district attempted to retaliate against her for disclosing the matter.

Clayton, who was suspended with pay by the school board in November 2004 for unspecified reasons, declined to comment Friday.

When the tests arrived Feb. 14, three weeks after their meeting, Carruth said Pagan called him. "'Can I count on you?'" Carruth said Pagan asked.

"I said, 'To do what we discussed in your office?' I said no."

Carruth said he received a "scathing" evaluation from Pagan three days later - criticizing him for allegedly failing to arrange for students to meet with health-care professionals.

"This behavior is a reflection of your inability to plan, coordinate and manage your responsibilities as the administrator in charge of your school," Pagan wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The Inquirer.

(Pagan and Carruth have an evaluation meeting scheduled for tomorrow.)

Carruth said he was "nervous," because as a first-year principal he did not have tenure. His wife advised him to call a lawyer. Carruth said he contacted School Board President Philip E. Freeman and later sent him a letter asking to speak to the board. Freeman said Thursday that Carruth did not tell him about being pressured to cheat. The board last week hired former Camden County Prosecutor Edward Borden to investigate Carruth 's allegation and a test security breach at Sumner Elementary School.

Carruth took his allegations to Camden County prosecutors last March. Investigators already looking into the grade-changing allegations at Brimm began probing Carruth 's allegations against Pagan.

Carruth said he gave a sworn statement to criminal investigators and wore a tape recorder in his lab-coat pocket at their request during a meeting with Pagan. The tape recorded nothing incriminating, Carruth said, and officials confirmed.

When the 2005 test scores came back, Carruth said, he was suspicious of a substantial increase in test scores, fearing that someone had tinkered with the tests after they left Brimm and were taken to the central office.