The magnitude of a Standards of Learning testing scandal at Roanoke's William Fleming High School is much greater than first reported.

A Virginia Department of Education report released in June identified 32 special education students whose schedules had been changed without their consent to exclude them from testing -- in what likely was initiated to boost the school's performance against federal benchmarks.

But an internal investigation launched by school officials found many more students were not tested.

More than 200 students in the general education and special education curriculums were left out of testing during the past three school years, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

"It is disturbing to hear that report," school board Chairman David Carson said Wednesday afternoon.

He declined to comment further because of the ongoing personnel issue involving Fleming Principal Susan Willis.

Wednesday marked the eighth day of a closed-door grievance hearing at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, and the proceedings will resume next week.

Willis' attorney, James Thorsen, issued this statement through a spokesman: "We believe that our part of the hearings are going great and through cross-examination of their witnesses we have seen no evidence of manipulation of test scores."

Willis opted to have a three-person fact-finding panel hear her grievance. The panel, which has listened to about 60 hours of testimony from Willis and school officials, will make a recommendation to the school board after the conclusion of the hearing. The board will make the final decision on Willis' future as a division employee.

But that could take a few months, and in the meantime Carson said he would like a copy of the hearing transcript, which likely is hundreds of pages long. It is unclear whether his request will be granted.

"Realistically ... there is nothing that can be done to speed it [the grievance process] up or slow it down at this point," the school board's attorney, Tim Spencer, said at a recent school board meeting.

Per the corrective action report, six students enrolled in an earth science class instead received credit for Physics First, which is a course that does not require an SOL test. The six students were English Language Learners, which means English is not their native language.

Some of the 220 affected students have graduated, but current students will be offered remediation and the chance to take the tests, according to a corrective action report Roanoke school officials submitted to the Virginia Department of Education. Superintendent Rita Bishop said Fleming staff will be required to take part in training in the fall regarding SOL testing requirements and procedures.