MINERSVILLE - The Minersville Area school board recorded a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Education into its meeting minutes Monday, closing the investigation into alleged irregularities in the 2009 PSSA test administration.
"The conclusion of the PDE, after five months of detailed analysis of our test results for 2009, 2010, 2011, determined that no further inquiry was necessary," Superintendent M. Joseph Brady said.
Multiple aberrations were found in at least three dozen school districts in the state, including North Schuylkill, Minersville Area and Hazleton Area, according to PDE.
North Schuylkill also has been cleared but Hazleton Area has not.
The report, released in July, states the schools were flagged "on statistical evidence" alone and inconsistencies between the two years compared "does not imply that the school or student engaged in inappropriate testing activity."
PDE reviewed the statistics in the report, with school districts also providing input on whether aberrations were caused by reporting errors from the districts to the state, statistical information input errors at the state level, statistical shifts in classroom performance or cheating on district reports to the state.
In other business, Brady said the Pennsylvania School Boards Association has adopted a resolution asking that local school board members be honored for School Director Recognition Month.
Brady said that in the Pennsylvania constitution, the only service actually designated as a mandate is public education, as all the others have been added on through the legislative process.
"The general public sometimes forgets the school board people, although they're locally elected, are really state officials, and you are co-partners with the legislator to follow the mandates of the constitution," Brady said. "At any rate, what we're being asked to do is salute your service and congratulate you and thank you for both your talents and your time."