Baltimore City?s new fire chief validated the results of a controversial promotional exam previously condemned because of alleged cheating.
Chief Jim Clack said in an interview late Tuesday that he would look into punishing six accused cheaters but would not discount the rest of the test results.
“It?s better to go back to the original lists,” Clack said, referring to exam scores. “The test results have been validated.”
Baltimore City firefighter unions had lobbied to stop Mayor Sheila Dixon?s order that firefighters must retake promotional exams in the wake of cheating allegations.
“It?s good news for us,” said Stephan Fugate, president of the Baltimore City Fire Officers Association. “They made a wise decision. It was pretty apparent we were going to win in arbitration.”
Dixon instructed the fire department to readminister the promotional exams for captains and lieutenants given June 2, after city Inspector General Hilton Green concluded that the exam?s results were compromised.
Green implicated six test-takers after some firefighters complained about suspected cheating on the test.
According to Green?s investigation, at least five firefighters used past exams as study guides.
“In reviewing the study material of all five top-scoring African Americans who took the examination, it was revealed that they had the actual examination for 2001 in their possession, which they were using as a study guide,” Green wrote in his investigative report.
But Fugate said the city?s case was “very weak.”
“The inspector general?s report was full of holes,” he said.
Clack said five of six suspected cheaters denied the allegations, but one admitted to cheating.
“There never was any solid proof that pointed to cheating,” he said. “I?m reviewing the evidence against each one of them, and I?ll come up with an appropriate discipline for the ones that did something wrong.”
Upon getting his job in February, Clack said he encountered the cheating controversy and decided to put an end to it.
“It was sitting here on my desk when I arrived,” he said. “Let?s get this resolved and move on.”
