Gloucester Twp. Special Education Teacher To Start 1-Year Suspension This Week

A Gloucester Township special education teacher is scheduled to start a one-year suspension this week after a ruling from the state Department of Education.

The department's state board of examiners ruled that Nelson Evans Jr. should be suspended on Jan. 1 after determining there was a "preponderance of the credible evidence" that he improperly coached students and reworded some questions during a New Jersey ASK achievement test.

The state board of examiners originally reviewed the case in Sept. 2011. After more than two years of appeals and a ruling from an administrative law judge, a final decision was agreed upon this month.

"The board voted to adopt the initial decision and suspend Nelson Evans Jr.’s Teacher of the Handicapped certificate for a period of one year," according to the final state decision dated Dec. 6. 

The administrative law judge, Lisa James-Beavers, said Evans had "violated the test security agreement by interfering with the independent work of students and that this breach constituted conduct unbecoming a teacher. That interference undermined the integrity of the test, to the extent that Evans’ students had their scores discarded." 

Evans argued that he had administered the NJ ASK for two consecutive years after the test breach before he was told the state was bringing charges against him. He told investigators he would not be able to return to the classroom until the 2014-2015 school year, with "no guarantee to return back to my district at that point," according to a the state board of examiners ruling.

Seven of 11 township schools did not meet state achievement standards in results released this year.