Fired Camden principal files whistle-blower suit

Former Camden high school principal Joseph D. Carruth tried to get colleagues, prosecutors and supervisors to believe him when he said he had been pressured to rig state tests. Instead, he was fired, a lawsuit filed yesterday alleges.

A year after he was terminated by the Camden school board, Carruth filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the district alleging he was dismissed for reporting misdeeds.

"Employers are not allowed to retaliate against employees who are honest," said his lawyer Ross Begelman. "He tried to do the right thing."

Carruth was fired last June on a recommendation by then Superintendent Annette D. Knox. No reason was cited then, but officials later said it was due to poor performance.

The 30-page lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Camden County provides a narrative detailing how the alleged test-rigging unfolded after Carruth became principal at the Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School in July 2004.

Carruth told investigators that he was pressured in January 2005 to cheat by Assistant Superintendent Luis Pagan but he refused to carry it out.

Pagan, who remains on the job, has denied having such a conversation with Carruth. He declined to comment yesterday through a spokesman.

Carruth also declined to comment.

A district investigation concluded this year that the scores were rigged and blamed a top district official. The investigation did not vindicate Carruth and deemed his allegations about Pagan untrue.

Carruth's allegations about being pressured to cheat were made public by The Inquirer in March 2006. That report and other reports of unusually high elementary test scores uncovered a wider cheating scandal and sparked a continuing state criminal probe into the Camden schools.

The state blamed "adult interference" for high scores at two elementary schools in 2005. Neither the state nor the district has held anyone accountable for the cheating.

Brimm was among the top-performing schools in the region in 2004-05, when 92 percent of its 11th graders were proficient in math on the state's High School Proficiency Exam.

Carruth alleges that Pagan gave him step-by-step instructions on how to cheat to ensure that at least 50 students passed. He said he was told to slice open a test with a razor and devise an answer key.

"He was then to use the answer key after the test's conclusion to change a certain number of answer sheets to ensure a high level of proficiency," the lawsuit said.

A district spokesman declined to comment yesterday.

The lawsuit said Carruth felt pressured to go along with the alleged cheating scheme. Pagan "intimated" that Carruth, who had a sick daughter, could lose his $118,017-a-year job and health benefits, the lawsuit alleges.

His daughter's illness was used "as a means to intimidate and threaten" Carruth, according to the lawsuit, which alleges the actions intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

As a rookie principal, Carruth didn't have tenure, which would have allowed him to fight to keep his job.

"Remember, the scores can't go down or your job will be in jeopardy," Carruth alleges Pagan told him.

In another conversation, Carruth said he asked Pagan if he was in any "trouble" because of articles about a lawsuit filed by another Brimm employee alleging grade changing. Pagan said it depended on whether the school's test scores "go down," he said.

A few weeks later, when Pagan allegedly called Carruth asking him, "Can I count on you to take care of that matter we discussed?," Carruth said he told him: "I would not be comfortable doing that." Carruth contends they were referring to Pagan's directions that he change test answers.

Carruth told at least five people about the conversations, including three Camden high school principals, the lawsuit said.

Woodrow Wilson High principal Calvin Gunning said Carruth asked him: "What if somebody came to you and wanted you to cheat?"

In an interview, Gunning said he replied: "I'd tell somebody."

"That's what I'm trying to. Nobody wants to listen," Gunning recalled Carruth saying.

Camden's state standardized test scores for the 2004-05 school year came under scrutiny last year when The Inquirer questioned suspiciously high results.

After the state sent monitors to oversee testing last spring, scores for 2005-06 plummeted across the district and at Brimm, where scores plunged 17 percentage points to 75 percent proficient.

A state grand jury is investigating the test scores and spending practices in the Camden schools system, including $17,690 in bonuses to Knox that were partially tied to the test scores.

In January, an internal investigation concluded that the Brimm scores were rigged by Roger Robinson, the director of guidance, who denies any wrongdoing. He remains suspended with pay. The investigator, Edward F. Borden Jr., said he found several inconsistencies in Carruth's account and deemed his allegations untrue.

The district has stood behind Pagan, who remains in his job as assistant superintendent.

Carruth's lawsuit seeks damages and names Knox, Pagan, former Assistant Superintendent Fred Reiss, and the school board. Knox did not return messages. Reiss retired and moved from the area.

Philip E. Freeman, who was school board president when the scandal began, said: "The retaliation charge is ridiculous."

The lawsuit alleges that Carruth "has sustained severe emotional distress, bodily injury, has undergone and will continue to undergo great pain and suffering."

Unemployed for a year, Carruth began working last week at West Oak Lane Charter School in Philadelphia as a deputy chief academic officer.

"He's a wonderful man who has been wronged," Begelman said.

For stories and an interview with Joseph Carruth go to http://go.philly.com/camdenscoresEndText