Court Allows Trial for Educator

Aspiring Principal Accused of Breaking Rules of Licensing Test

Cheating on an exam is usually a surefire way to end up in the principal's office, but when Montgomery County educator Elba H. Hildebrant was accused of misconduct on a licensing exam to become a principal, everybody ended up in court.

Hildebrant, now an assistant principal at Viers Mill Elementary School in Silver Spring, is accused of refusing a proctor's repeated orders to stop writing when the allotted time was up. The Educational Testing Service tossed out her scores, and Hildebrant sued.

Yesterday, a state appellate court handed the educator a small victory. Reversing a lower court ruling, the Court of Special Appeals said she is entitled to a trial at which she would have a chance to prove that she was falsely accused.

The standardized test, which any aspiring principal in Montgomery must pass, was administered Sept. 11, 2004. Proctor Dana Baker made the allegations in a report.

"Warning given. Material Taken," Baker wrote in her Supervisor's Irregularity Report about the first part of the test. In a later portion of the test, Baker continued, Hildebrant "had to be instructed twice to stop work and close the test book. (She insisted on completing her thought.)"

The testing service later alerted Hildebrant that her scores were being canceled based on its belief that she had engaged in misconduct. Hildebrant filed a complaint in Montgomery Circuit Court accusing ETS of breaching its contract.

In an affidavit filed in court, Hildebrant denied Baker's claims. "These statement are so contrary to any reasonable understanding or interpretation of anything that could have been observed that I have readily concluded that they were made with the knowledge that they were false and with the intent to harm me personally," she wrote.

Baker, a professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, said in a separate affidavit that before the test, she had not met Hildebrant and knew nothing about her.

The trial court concluded that ETS did not breach its contract because the company had the right to cancel scores when, in its judgment, a test taker engaged in misconduct. The Court of Special Appeals disagreed, saying that a genuine dispute existed as to whether Baker had made up the allegations.

Hildebrant had little to say yesterday: "You know I would love to talk to you, but at this time I really need to speak to my lawyer."

Brian Edwards, a Montgomery schools spokesman, said the school system didn't seem to know about the case. "This is the first we're hearing about this," he said.