The administration of a struggling Queens high school resorted to cheating to get dozens of students to pass high-stakes exams — ordering teachers to be “extremely lenient” in grading, investigators found.
When the city Department of Education rescored 25 “passing” global-history Regents exams at Mathematics, Science Research and Technology Magnet HS, all but one were found to have deserved a failing score.
As a result of the regrading, scores on the tests fell by 7 to 35 points. They’re graded on a 100-point scale.
The probe by the DOE’s internal investigative unit found Assistant Principal Johnny Recio “should be held accountable for having instructed his subordinates to be ‘extremely lenient’ during the scoring.”
Despite the strong words, Recio was given just a letter of reprimand and ordered to attend training.
A former staffer at the Queens Village school said investigators failed to properly probe the potential involvement of its principal, José Cruz.
The principal, the ex-staffer said, had bent Recio’s ear just before Recio told teachers to go easy.
“Recio is not a decision maker. He does not do anything Principal Cruz doesn’t tell him to do,” the former educator said.
“For the DOE to only give Recio a slap on the wrist is a crime in itself.”
Asked about the 2011 case at the school yesterday, Recio said only that he was going to get Cruz. Instead, he called security to kick out a Post reporter.
Cruz did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
The duo also had little to say to the DOE during the 20-month probe.
Recio claimed he could neither remember “whether [he] was told nor whether [he] told teachers . . . to be lenient,” the report says.
“We graded fair,” it quoted him as saying.
Cruz claimed he only spoke with the grading team once, when he said he wished he could “buy them dinner,” the report says.
Asked about Recio’s punishment, a DOE spokeswoman said, “Many factors are taken into consideration when determining disciplinary action.”
She said the DOE was still investigating the school’s scores on the US-history Regents from 2011, when 88 percent passed — up from 54 percent the year prior.
After a state crackdown on cheating, this is the first year high schools cannot grade their Regents exams.
Additional reporting by Lisa Hagen