Teacher keeps job, EPISD parents raise concern over testing irregularity investigation

A Lundy Elementary School teacher, bolstered by parental support, kept her job Tuesday after the El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees voted 4-3 not to terminate following a district investigation into “testing irregularities” during a third-grade STAAR test.

The board voted Tuesday night during a special board meeting not to terminate third-grade teacher Nicole Schuster’s contract after several parents, community members and colleagues rallied behind her, denying the accusations.

Trustees Valarie Ganelon Beals, Leah Hanany, Alex Cuellar and Jack Loveridge voted to keep her on the district, while Daniel Call, Isabel Hernandez and board President Israel Irrobali voted to fire Schuster.

Schuster, who was named Lundy Elementary School’s 2023-2024 Teacher of the Year — and was initially among the top 10 finalists for the district’s Teacher of the Year award — said this support guided the board’s decision.

“Parents’ support and the board being able to objectively view everything and make the right decision really helped. I’m very thankful that they did that,” she told El Paso Matters.

The board also voted unanimously to terminate Bobby Joe Hill PK-8 School teacher Gabriela Castellano’s contract.

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This comes just days after Castellano and her husband, Socorro Independent School District Trustee Richard Castellano, were arrested for allegedly targeting a former principal at Bill Sybert School, where she formerly was a third-grade teacher.

Both face felony charges for obstruction or retaliation.

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Community calls to help teacher

Before Schuster was set to go before the board for termination, parents reached out to El Paso Matters with concerns about how the district handled the incident.

Parents said Schuster was placed on administrative leave after a hall monitor identified a “testing irregularity” in her third-grade class as students took the STAAR math assessment April 25.

Though EPISD staff said they could not give specific details on the testing irregularity, chief organizational transformation and equity officer Marivel Macias said the district followed proper procedures and reported the incident to the Texas Education Agency.

“If there’s a testing irregularity, we start off by looking at the information,” Macias told El Paso Matters. “Then, based on the information that we received, we identify if it’s something that we could investigate via the electronic submission, or if there has to be additional information that needs to be gathered. … If we have to interview one child, the classroom, the proctor and or any witnesses, it just depends on each incident.”

A TEA spokesperson told El Paso Matters it was aware of the incident, but could not comment because it is currently being investigated.

Penalties for serious testing violations include invalidating student test results, suspending or revoking a teacher’s certifications and lowering the school district’s accreditation status or accountability rating, according to the STAAR test administrator manual.

Parents told El Paso Matters several students were questioned one-on-one behind closed doors by a district representative, without parents being notified, and asked to sign a statement. In some cases, parents said that students were under the impression they could not talk to anyone about the interview.

“That makes me very uncomfortable,” Lundy Elementary School PTA President Stacee Primeaux told El Paso Matters. “In today’s day and age, I don’t want my child in a room by themselves with an adult telling them ‘don’t talk about what we’re talking about in here.’”

“I was very disturbed to learn that the 8- and 9-year-olds were questioned one-on-one by a stranger under duress behind a closed door with no parental consent or warning as a way of gaining evidence against Mrs. Schuster,” Raymond Rumpf, a parent and University of Texas at El Paso professor, said during the public comment portion of the meeting. “I think this is wrong and we shouldn’t tolerate this. It scared our children and it violated the trust that the parents put in the school system.”

Macias said a legal concept known as in loco parentis allows organizations such as school districts to take on some of a parent’s legal responsibilities, including questioning students about testing irregularities.

Some parents also raised concerns because they weren’t notified about the incident until days after it occurred. Some said they heard about it through their students or other parents.

EPISD chief communications officer Liza Rodriguez told El Paso Matters that parents were notified three times: on the day of the incident via phone call, the following day via email and again the following Monday via email.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Board voted to terminate teacher Gabriela Castellano’s contract