New York City today asked a federal judge to delay the administration of upcoming firefighter entrance exams by nearly two months, partly out of concern for potential cheating.
City officials want the judge’s permission to push back the testing process for aspiring FDNY firefighters from early January to either late February or March, which would allow consultants more time to develop a test that guards against plagiarism and is more fair.
Michael Cardozo, the city’s chief attorney, explained in a letter to the judge that more time to further refine the exam would “better ensure the integrity and security of the test.”
“Given the unprecedented number of people who have applied to take the test – more than 60,000 – and the fact that the test will be administered over a nearly five week period,” Cardozo wrote, “it is advisable to create additional equivalent test forms.”
The city says experts helping it devise the test have proposed creating “questions which can be combined many different ways so that the delivery of questions is randomized,” Cardozo wrote.
Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who is overseeing the the FDNY’s hiring efforts after a Justice Department lawsuit, issued an order late Wednesday that called the city’s request “too vague to provide adequate notice to the more than 61,000 candidates who have applied to take the exam.”
But the judge left the door open to changing the testing date and directed city officials to discuss the issue with other parties to the lawsuit, including a fraternal organization for black firefighters and the Justice Department, as well as with Mary Jo White, the court-appointed special master who is assisting the FDNY in developing a firefighter entrance test that is more fair.
Last summer, the issue of plagiarism arose when the judge held a special bench trial about hiring practices at the nation’s largest fire department.
Michele Maglione, the FDNY’s assistant commissioner for recruitment and diversity, testified in Brooklyn federal court that she had alerted her superiors in writing after the fire department’s 2007 firefighter test that “complaints of cheating were widespread and from all five boroughs.”
After informing department superiors about the cheating allegations, Maglione testified that she never saw a mobilized response to address the issue.
Her testimony in August incensed the judge, who said he was incredulous about the demonstrable lack of concern about the issue from FDNY brass.
“There was no response? It’s somewhat disturbing to the court. If ever I got a memo like this, I’d jump out of my skin,” the judge said to Maglione during the hearing.
Three weeks ago, Garaufis ruled that broader judicial oversight of the FDNY is needed because of the city’s “pattern and practice of discrimination against black firefighter candidates,” as well as minorities already working for it.
He has been interviewing candidates to serve as a special monitor to oversee the fire department for as many as 10 years.
mmaddux@nypost.com