Kyle Green The Roanoke Times

William Fleming Principal Susan Willis was placed on paid administrative leave June 11.

William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis said nine days of testimony from a dozen witnesses poked enough holes in a state Department of Education report to prove her innocence.

The June report implicated Willis as the ringleader in an initiative to manipulate the schedules of more than 30 special education students to keep them out of state-mandated Standards of Learning tests.

The Roanoke School Board on Wednesday received a recommendation from the three-person panel who heard Willis' grievance, and now it is up to the board to determine whether she will remain a division employee. Chairman David Carson said a special meeting will be scheduled for Monday, which will give the board about five days to dig into the recommendation, transcripts and associated documents.

Willis' copy of the hearing transcript is a three-inch stack of pages divided into quarter-page sections. City attorney Tim Spencer said none of the documents will be available to the public because personnel matters are exempt under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Willis was placed on paid administrative leave June 11, one day before Fleming's class of 2009 commencement.

"That is when my world changed, at that moment," Willis said.

She said she purposefully kept quiet since then to allow herself to study the data, focus and prepare herself for the hearing. Now that it's over, Willis said she was framed.

"I feel vindicated, and I don't know what the outcome is going to be," she said.

Superintendent Rita Bishop on Wednesday evening was hesitant to discuss the recommendation because it is personnel-related.

"It is not my report," Bishop said. "It belongs to the board. There is a great deal more [at stake] here than the DOE report."

Monthly corrective action reports submitted to the DOE by school officials indicate a much more widespread problem of hundreds of Fleming students not taking the proper tests. Willis said school officials have declined to provide her data or reports extending beyond the students affected in the state's report.

Later this month, Willis plans to travel to Richmond, where the board of education is expected to determine Fleming's accreditation status. Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the DOE, said the board withheld accreditation from two schools because of a lack of reliable assessment results due to testing irregularities. That was in 2005, and those schools were Oak Grove Elementary in Richmond and Nandua High in Accomack County.

The school board may make a determination Monday on Willis' employment status, but for Willis the battle may not end there. She has vowed to keep fighting to clear her reputation. If the board opts to fire her, she has the right to appeal the decision to circuit court. She stopped short Wednesday of specifically saying whether she would pursue an appeal.

Bishop chose Sandra Burks, the division's director of human resources, to sit on the three-person fact-finding panel. Willis selected Cheryl Twine, a Fleming volleyball coach who also is a business owner.

Twine was chosen because "she is an employee who does not rely on Roanoke City Public Schools for her livelihood," Willis said.

Because the two sides could not agree on a third member, a circuit court judge put together a list to draw from, Willis said. The short list was whittled down by alternating strikes and the last member standing was Lorin Costanzo, a Vinton lawyer and due process hearing officer for the DOE.

Two of the other four Fleming administrators named in the state report -- assistant principals William Downie and Michael Hill -- were called to testify during the nine-day hearing at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Since the state report was issued in June, Downie retired and Hill followed up plans to leave the division, which he had announced prior to the state probe.

Former special education department chairwoman Brenda Hairston and former guidance coordinator Keith Smith did not testify, Willis said. Hairston also retired, and Smith was reassigned to a position teaching physical education at James Madison Middle School.

Bishop; assistant superintendent for teaching and learning Vella Wright; Julie Drewry, coordinator of mathematics; Doris Ennis, Fleming's interim leader; and Fleming teachers William Hodges and Nita Tarter testified, according to Willis. Her attorney called Duke Curtis and Katherine Walker as character witnesses. Melissa Smith from the DOE and former Fleming teacher Jennifer Hamlen also testified. Hamlen teaches math at Lucy Addison Middle School this year.

Willis was the division director of testing for Roanoke County Public Schools prior to becoming Fleming's top administrator. She served as an assistant principal at Roanoke's James Breckinridge Middle School under Ennis before that. She is on several boards of trustees: Roanoke Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, Taubman Museum of Art, United Way of Roanoke Valley, Hollins University Alumnae and Carilion Jefferson College of Health Sciences.

Willis said she received a "groundswell" of attention from the black community, which showed her love and support, especially during the grievance hearing.

"I truly thank God for having the fortitude to persevere," Willis said Wednesday. "I think that is why I am smiling so much."