Former Locke Elementary principal held for trial on tampering charges

A FORMER Philadelphia School District principal accused of changing test scores in an alleged widespread cheating scandal yesterday had her case held for trial after a preliminary hearing.

Lolamarie Davis-O'Rourke, 43, principal at Alain Locke Elementary School on Haverford Avenue near 46th Street in West Philly from 2009 to 2012, faces charges of forgery, tampering with public records and related offenses.

She is the fourth principal and eighth educator overall to be charged in connection with an ongoing probe by the state Attorney General's Office into alleged cheating on standardized tests.

At the hearing before Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan, Philip Roberts, an investigation manager at the state Office of Inspector General, testified that he had interviewed Davis-O'Rourke.

When asked why some Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests had multiple erasures on them, the former principal's first reaction was, "Wow, I think it was the sub," as if blaming a substitute teacher for the erasures, Roberts said.

Davis-O'Rourke first denied any involvement with changing answers, but later in the interview "admitted to making alterations to PSSA tests," Roberts said.

She said she and Wanda Williams, a PSSA testing coordinator, erased wrong multiple-choice answers and filled in correct ones in one of their offices, Roberts said.

"She indicated it was Ms. Williams' idea" to change answers, Roberts said. (Williams has not been charged in the case.)

For the constructive-response, or essay, part of the tests, Davis-O'Rourke said she had written examples of answers for students on the classroom whiteboard during the tests, Roberts testified.

Asked by Senior Deputy Attorney General James Goldsmith if Davis-O'Rourke was aware of any negative consequences if her school had not made adequate yearly progress on the PSSA exams, Roberts said she was aware of ramifications. "The school would be closed possibly, or the administration replaced," Roberts said of her answers.

Davis-O'Rourke's lawyer, Christopher Warren, said after the hearing that his client "was a very hardworking person, trying everything she could in her power to try to keep the school open."

He added: "If she did anything, she had done what she was told to do by the people higher up in the school-district administration . . . whom I have not seen charged."

Davis-O'Rourke resigned from the district in August 2012 and voluntarily surrendered her teaching certification in 2013.

Warren said Davis-O'Rourke was told by the state Department of Education that "if she gave up her teaching certification, that would be the end of the matter."

She felt "betrayed" that the Department of Education referred the matter to the state Attorney General's Office for criminal prosecution, Warren said.

Davis-O'Rourke, of Williamstown, N.J., is not in custody. She next faces her formal arraignment Feb. 13.