Ex-teacher acquitted of most charges in cheating case

A sense of relief washed over Ary Sloane's face Thursday after a Philadelphia jury found the former teacher, ensnared in a test-cheating scandal, not guilty of three of four charges she faced.

"Today was a great day for justice. I really appreciate what the jury did, and I really appreciate how the criminal justice system worked for this innocent woman, whose only crime was to be working at a place where bad people were administrators," her attorney, Michael Coard, said after leaving the courtroom.

Sloane, 58, who was a program-support teacher at Cayuga Elementary in Hunting Park before her arrest in May 2014, had been charged with tampering with public records or information; forgery; tampering with records or identification; and criminal conspiracy.

On the third day of deliberations, the Common Pleas Court jury of seven women and five men found Sloane not guilty of all charges except criminal conspiracy.

After Coard and Senior Deputy Attorney General James Goldsmith disagreed over whether the conspiracy count was a felony, Judge Timika Lane asked them to file briefs prior to Sloane's sentencing hearing May 9.

"We certainly respect the jury's verdict. We feel the decision to find the defendant guilty of conspiracy confirms our theory of the case, which was that Ms. Sloane took part in a widespread conspiracy of cheating at Cayuga Elementary School," the Attorney General's Office said in an email Thursday night.

Coard countered that two prosecution witnesses testified that the worst thing she might have done was to have read a test question aloud to a student, uttered, "Ehh," and "kind of sort of nodded her head."

"How the hell is that a widespread culture of cheating?" he asked in the courthouse hallway as Sloane listened.

Sloane, a 25-year educator, is one of five former faculty members from Cayuga arrested and charged in 2014 with manipulating student state exams. Three former educators at other city schools were also arrested.

Some of the accused told investigators they were under intense pressure to help their schools meet state standards.

"I'm very sorry. I don't know [Sloane], but she had a very fine reputation as an educator in the School District," Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said Thursday.

As a nonviolent first-time offender, Sloane should get a probationary sentence, said Coard, who said he plans to appeal the conviction. Sloane is free on bail.

Evelyn Cortez, 61, who was Cayuga's principal when the scandal broke, pleaded guilty last week to perjury, tampering with public records, and criminal conspiracy before Lane and is to be sentenced April 29.

Former Cayuga teacher Jennifer Hughes, 61, also pleaded guilty last week to criminal conspiracy and was sentenced to three years' probation.

The five other accused ex-educators are awaiting trials or court hearings, according to court records. The Attorney General's Office is handling the prosecutions.

The Inquirer first reported on cheating at Cayuga in 2012, when school staffers told the newspaper of systemic test-tampering at the school that stretched back years.

Cortez and others allegedly created a culture of cheating at the school so blatant that the principal broadcast announcements over the loudspeaker advising adults to tamper with tests.

Cayuga's test scores rose dramatically during the time of the alleged cheating, then plummeted after testing improprieties were first reported and the state imposed strict new testing protocols.

deanm@phillynews.com 215-854-4172 @mensahdean