Ex-EPISD administrator describes how alleged cheating was carried out

The former leader of principals at El Paso Independent School District took the stand Friday in the trial of five former administrators accused of taking part in a district-wide cheating scandal.

Priscilla Terrazas, who at one point was director of priority schools in EPISD, spent nearly two hours on the stand. She told the jury of six men and six women about her interactions with defendant James Anderson, the district’s former associate superintendent.

Anderson, along with four others, including former Austin High principal John Tanner, face charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government.

Terrazas, who is named in court documents as an unindicted co-conspirator, testified that after the departure of Assistant Superintendent Damon Murphy, Anderson picked up where he left off when it came to potentially illegal methods of keeping Limited English Proficiency students out of the 10th grade so they could avoid federal accountability testing.

“We just kept going,” Terrazas said. “(Anderson) just kept telling us to follow the same policies and procedures.”

“Didn’t miss a beat?” U.S. Prosecutor Robert Almonte asked. “No,” Terrazas answered.

She said one of those procedures was to keep LEP students in the 9th grade or bump them up to the 11th grade so they could avoid the 10th-grade federal accountability testing. Another procedure involved giving students credit for mini-mesters with relatively little instruction time.

Terrazas said Anderson would instruct administrators to give students credit, even if they did not meet attendance requirements.

“(Anderson) said if a student passes a class, go ahead and give them credit,” Terrazas said. “He said if principals would not sign off, take it to him and he would give them the credit.”

Terrazas described an issue with a particular female student at Jefferson High School who after missing more than 25 days during the semester lacked six credits the week before graduation.

Terrazas said Dr. Stephen Lane, the principal at Jefferson at the time, was opposed to her graduating. However, after stating she was going to call Anderson about it, Terrazas said Lane told her, “Never mind. Just go ahead and do it.”

Terrazas said the student was allowed to take mini-mester classes in less than a week, including one in economics, and take part in graduation ceremonies that weekend.

“Ultimately the student did receive those credits?” asked Almonte.

“Yes,” Terrazas replied.

“Did she walk at graduation?” asked Almonte.

“Yes,” Terrazas responded.

“Ultimately, if she didn’t receive those six credits through mini-mester courses, would she have graduated?” Almonte asked.

“No,” Terrazas replied.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Liz Rogers, representing Tanner, Terrazas was asked whether it was fair to say that teachers and administrators hated No Child Left Behind?”

“It was very stressful for teachers,” Terrazas said.

Terrazas said she left EPISD in 2011 after realizing what was going on was illegal.

“I couldn’t take the stress anymore,” she said. “Something was not right. There was too much pressure.”

Former Austin High School Assistant Principal Mark Tegmeyer is also charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government. Former Austin assistant principal Diane Thomas is charged with retaliating against a witness or a victim. Former Austin assistant principal Nancy Love is charged with retaliating against a witness or victim and false declaration before a grand jury.

The administrators allegedly engaged in schemes designed to discourage at-risk students from registering in schools, to underrepresent at-risk student populations within the schools and fraudulently award class credits to students to falsely increase graduation rates of schools, change attendance records of students and manipulate students grade levels to avoid state accountability tests.