Tuesday, October 14, 2003

By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer

A city teacher accused of helping fourth-graders on a standardized test has given her own version of events.

This version comes in the form of a federal lawsuit Beth Lynn Boysza filed last week against Superintendent John Thompson, the school board and the school district.

Boysza was accused of using sticky notes to help students on the New Standards Math Reference Exam in May at Horace Mann Elementary School in May.

She taught at Mann from fall 2001 until May 2003 when she was suspended indefinitely with pay. On Sept. 24, the board voted to suspend her without pay from Sept. 25 through Jan. 30.

Previously, Boysza, who has taught more than 15 years, taught kindergarten at Fort Pitt Elementary, where she filed a harassment complaint with the school district's office of equity, compliance and community relations against then-Principal Kevin Bivins.

In her suit, Boysza said that she was suspended without a hearing and the discipline against her "grossly exceeded the discipline pursued and imposed on other personnel employed by school district that were alleged to have committed similar, or more egregious, testing improprieties."

The suit does not elaborate on the improprieties.

The suit alleges that Thompson was trying to retaliate against her for the harassment complaint against Bivins.

It states she has suffered severe "emotional distress" and monetary damages of $35,000 for the suspension.

As to the math test, Boysza maintains she administered it fairly.

Here's what the suit states:

The district trained her in a technique to use sticky notes as an "effective means for teacher-student communication." The district also encouraged teacher to re-read math questions for students who couldn't read the questions so that reading difficulties wouldn't hinder math performance.

Test administration "deteriorated into chaos" because children were taking the language arts and math tests the same week, instead of two separate weeks.

During the test, students with a question would come to her desk. She would read the question if necessary and ask the student what the question was asking.

"If the student replied that the question was asking about distance, Mrs. Boysza would write 'how far' on a Post-It Note which she would then place on the pertinent page of the test booklet.

"As the simultaneous testing process lasted several days and required the students repeatedly to turn in and get back their test booklets, Mrs. Boysza also used Post-It Notes to remind her students and herself where each student had left off in the previous testing session and what questions the students had asked. ...

"At no time did Mrs. Boysza provide substantive answers to any test question."

Her use of the sticky notes "did not provide her students or the class as a whole with clues that would inappropriately improve their test results."

Her actions were "taken in good faith and for the sole purpose of assisting the students' performance on the test in a manner consistent with all school district academic and ethical standards."

After a parent complained, Principal Lonnie Folino and Boysza discussed the situation in April, and he concluded she had "done nothing wrong."

But after a May story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the "tone of discussions" changed "fundamentally." Folino told her she could face possible termination, and she was indefinitely suspended with pay.

Thompson two weeks later urged the board to fire Boysza and noted she was the "teacher that caused all the problems at Fort Pitt Elementary."

Ira Weiss, special counsel to the school district, said, "We think the school district did the right thing here, and we're prepared to fully defend what occurred here."

He said the Bivins situation was unrelated to what happened at Horace Mann.

Correction/Clarification (Published Oct. 15, 2003): Beth Lynn Boysza has been suspended without pay as a teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. A headline on a story published Oct. 14, 2003 about a lawsuit Boysza has filed against the school district, its superintendent and the school board incorrectly called her an ex-teacher

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