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Former Cayuga Elementary principal sentenced to 10 years' probation in test cheating scandal

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A FORMER principal of Cayuga Elementary School in Hunting Park has been sentenced to 10 years' probation for her role in promoting a school culture of cheating on the state's standardized tests.

Evelyn M. Cortez, 61, was sentenced by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Timika Lane on Monday, the state Attorney General's Office announced.

Cortez, who had entered a guilty plea in February, was sentenced to seven years' probation for tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy.

She received an additional three consecutive years of probation for perjury and was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service involving literacy.

Cortez and four teachers were arrested in May 2014 by the Attorney General's Office as part of an investigation into cheating at Cayuga on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams between 2009 and 2011.

"This cheating robbed children of the education they deserve," Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane said in a statement. "We are pleased the court ordered an appropriate sentence that will serve as a reminder that this conduct will not be tolerated."

Neither Cortez nor the attorney who represented her could be reached for comment Monday.

The Inquirer first reported cheating at Cayuga in 2012, when staffers told of systematic test-tampering that stretched back years.

After a statewide investigation into cheating, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the state's Office of Inspector General referred the case to a state grand jury, which recommended the charges.

The investigating grand jury in 2014 said that Cortez and several teachers had "systematically cheated to increase Cayuga's test score." The grand jurors charged that Cortez and others had changed student answers, given students answers, and improperly reviewed PSSA questions in advance.

The grand jury also said that Cortez publicly reprimanded teachers who did not cheat, as well as students who did not want to change their answers.

When cheating ended in 2012 when the state investigation was launched, test scores at Cayuga "dropped dramatically across all grades and subjects," the grand jury said.

Cortez is the first of the Cayuga defendants to be sentenced.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said Cortez was suspended without pay in May 2014 and retired from the district on July 1 of that year.

"We agree with the court's sentence," Gallard said. "There are no excuses for what Ms. Cortez did. It ultimately cheated students from an education and harmed the reputations of our educators, principals and schools."

martha.woodall@

phillynews.com

215-854-2789 @marwooda