A two-day, closed-door grievance hearing for Susan Willis, the William Fleming High School principal at the center of a testing scandal, began Wednesday at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center and is scheduled to conclude today.

But it could be weeks or even months before the Roanoke School Board determines Willis' fate as a division employee.

"I am looking forward to presenting the full picture of the situation and refuting the DOE [state Department of Education] report," Willis said Wednesday in a statement issued by the public relations firm she hired.

According to the DOE investigation report released in June, Willis and four other school administrators changed the schedules of dozens of special education students -- temporarily and without the knowledge or permission of the students or parents -- to keep them from taking Standards of Learning tests. The plot may have been initiated to help the high school meet federal and state testing benchmarks.

According to an account of the investigation, obtained from Roanoke schools under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Willis in a May 28 interview "indicated that the manipulation of rolls was the result of two assistant/hall principals." According to a timeline prepared by Roanoke school administrators Jean Pollock and Vella Wright, Willis went on to say the class roll was corrected before central office officials began interviewing Fleming administrators May 15.

The students were dropped from Algebra I Part I at 2:07 p.m. May 15. Yet data collected by the Department of Education does not match Willis' claim that the roll had been corrected earlier, the report notes.

Payroll records obtained under the state's open records law showed Willis continued to draw a paycheck after June 1 but she was not present at Fleming's graduation June 12, two days after the state report was issued. Doris Ennis, a retired Roanoke teacher, principal and administrator, has been named Fleming's interim administrator, but school officials have not confirmed that Willis was placed on paid leave.

Superintendent Rita Bishop "has been advised by legal counsel not to comment on the hearing," school spokeswoman Tiffany Woods said.

The school board last month accepted the retirements of two of the administrators involved: Assistant Principal William Downie and special education department Chairwoman Brenda Hairston. A third person, Keith Smith, was demoted from the position of guidance coordinator; he now is a gym teacher at James Madison Middle School. A second assistant principal, Michael Hill, left the district to take another job and announced his intentions before the investigation.

School officials said Willis opted to have a three-person, fact-finding panel to hear the grievance. Per state legislation, Willis chose one panel member, Bishop chose one panel member and a third either had to be agreed upon mutually or chosen by a circuit court judge. Neither Bishop nor Willis, through separate spokespersons, would disclose who was selected.

The panel is required to make a recommendation to the school board within 30 days of the conclusion of the hearing and the school board has another 30 days to take action. Willis can appeal the board's decision to the Roanoke Circuit Court within 10 days.