Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal
The state's largest bricks-and-mortar charter is operated for profit by a GOP power broker. Its test scores plunged in 2012 when security measures were tightened.
A former testing coordinator at Chester Community Charter School, the state’s largest bricks-and-mortar charter with more than 3,000 students, has been sanctioned by the state for “systemic violations of the security of the PSSA exams” over the five-year period between 2007 and 2011.
The school was under scrutiny for testing irregularities by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as part of a statewide cheating scandal that broke in 2011.
CCCS is operated for profit by a company owned by Vahan Gureghian, a major Republican donor and power broker who was among the largest individual contributors to former Gov. Tom Corbett’s campaign and a member of his education transition team. During his term, Corbett visited CCCS to tout it as an exemplar of high-quality education for low-income communities.
Now with two campuses, CCCS has drawn more than half the K-8 students who live in the Chester Upland School District.
The state’s disciplinary action against the former coordinator, Patricia A. Sciamanna, was for violating testing rules during years that CCCS was struggling to meet federal student proficiency targets used for critical decisions, including whether a charter should be renewed.
The Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission (PSPC) suspended Sciamanna’s instructional and administrative licenses, as well as her eligibility to work in a charter or cyber charter, for two years.
It also banned her permanently from ever “participating in, proctoring, monitoring and/or overseeing the administration of the PSSAs.” Although the action was taken in April, it was only recently posted on the PSPC website that tracks disciplinary actions against educators.
An effort by the Notebook to reach Sciamanna through her Facebook page was unsuccessful.
CCCS spokesman A. Bruce Crawley issued a statement on the disciplinary action, saying it is against the school's policy to comment on “issues related to individual staff members.” He did not respond to a request to clarify when Sciamanna started working at the school, when she left, and what positions she held.
The school’s statement reiterated its longstanding position that PDE has made no determination against the school itself in regards to cheating.
“The PDE closed its review of CCCS in September 2012, with no finding of wrongdoing by Past Chester Community Charter testing head disciplined in cheating scandal | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: