Report: Public School Test Checkers Used Fraudulent Forms To Get Jobs

Temporary employees at a center that handles public school tests for the city's Department of Education used fraudulent documents to get hired, according to a report issued by the department's special investigator.

The employees accused of fraud worked at a large warehouse in Long Island City that processes answer keys to standardized tests completed by public school students. Their responsibilities include checking the answer keys to make sure all the bubbles are filled in.

Employees allegedly submitted medical forms saying they suffered from problems like chronic bronchitis and diabetes in order to get hired by GoodTemps, an employment agency that provides temporary employees for the Scan Center. A state law requires that 75% of employees hired for the Department of Education by outside employment agencies be disabled.

One of the employees at the center of the investigation, Cassandra Thompson, worked for the department until 1998, when she was convicted of welfare fraud, according to the investigation. While she was banned from working for the department, she was hired by GoodTemps in 2004 and placed in the Scan Center. Ms. Thompson allegedly also charged a $25 fee to help other applicants get jobs at the center by providing false medical forms that said they were disabled.

A spokesman for the education department said yesterday that it would bring disciplinary charges against employees involved in the scheme and fire anyone who had not cooperated with the investigation.

The investigation was begun after a GoodTemps employee in charge of placements noticed questionable medical forms in several applications and Goodwill Industries reported the problem to the education department. Goodwill Industries released a statement yesterday defending its actions.

"GoodTemps and Goodwill Industries have cooperated fully with the Department of Investigation," the statement said.

A spokeswoman for the special commissioner of investigation, Laurel Wright-Hinkson, said the investigation did not find that employees tampered with the test materials.

"Anything having to do with scores would have to happen at a higher level," Ms. Wright-Hinkson said. "Unless they knew what they were doing and what they were looking for, the likelihood of them doing anything with scores would be nil."