William Fleming High School parents and employees may not get a quick resolution to the testing scandal that has gripped the Roanoke school.

If top school officials want to fire Fleming Principal Susan Willis and the four Fleming administrators accused of manipulating state tests, they will have to follow a specific set of procedures laid out in Virginia law and the school board's own policy documents, a process that can take months.

School board members spent two hours Monday in a closed-door session to discuss the possibility of personnel action and other ramifications of a scathing report released last week by the Virginia Department of Education. The report found that Willis and four other administrators manipulated student schedules to exclude students with disabilities from taking state-mandated Standards of Learning tests.

Keeping those students out of state tests could have the effect of raising the school's pass rates even though it violates state and federal education law. The report names the Fleming administrators involved, but their names were redacted in copies released to the public.

Roanoke school officials have refused to say what course of action they want to pursue. It's unclear whether they've set in motion the firing process, or whether they even intend to. Willis has declined to comment.

Officials have also declined to say whether Willis has been suspended, although she was conspicuously absent during William Fleming's graduation ceremonies last week.

Under Virginia law, superintendents can recommend to the school board that an employee be fired, but cannot dismiss an employee without the approval of the board.

"Only the school board can hire and fire," said Frank Barham, president of the Virginia School Board Association.

In this case, if Superintendent Rita Bishop wanted to recommend that the board fire Willis, Bishop would first have to inform the Fleming principal in writing of her recommendation.

Willis would then have 15 days to request an interview with the superintendent to discuss the reasons for her dismissal. After that, Willis would have two possible courses of action.

Under the first scenario, she could ask the school board to hold a closed-door hearing on her dismissal. That hearing would be set within 30 days. Both sides would have the opportunity to call witnesses and present evidence bolstering their case. The school board would then have another 30 days after the hearing to vote on a decision.

Under the second scenario, Willis could ask for a three-person panel to hold a hearing instead of the school board. Willis and Bishop would each select one panel member from among school employees. Those two members would agree on a third member. If they couldn't agree on a third member, a circuit court judge would intervene to help them decide, which could delay a decision by several weeks.

Once the panel is selected, it has to hold a closed hearing within 30 days. After the hearing, the panel presents its recommendations to the school board, which would then have another 30 days to vote on the dismissal. The school board could also decide to hold another hearing to discuss the recommendations from the three-person panel.

If Willis is not satisfied with the board's decision, she could appeal the decision within 10 days to the Roanoke Circuit Court. The court would have another 10 days to schedule a hearing in front of a judge, who would make a final decision within another 15 days.

All told, the process could drag on into next school year. That could leave Fleming with an administrative vacuum as it moves into its new $57 million building, scheduled to open in the fall.

"I guess it may take two to three months," Barham said. "Justice is slow."