Thomas MacMillan Photo
HR head Stephen Librandi solves the problem.
When the fire department tested applicants for drillmaster positions, it ran into a little math problem — and maybe yet another legal problem.
The math trouble led to mistakes in the final scoring of the test. Nine firefighters were given an erroneous preliminary score, then had their scores adjusted. Three firefighters who were initially informed they’d failed the test were then told they’d passed.
On Tuesday, the city’s Civil Service Commission certified the corrected test results, after Stephen Librandi, head of human resources, pulled out an easel and explained how the error came about.
The fire department can now use certified lists to promote a new drillmaster and three assistant drillmasters. The drillmasters are in charge of training at the city’s fire academy.
The math mess-up was just the latest snafu in the perennially fraught world of New Haven fire department testings and promotions. New Haven fire department promotions problems have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled against the city on a lawsuit — Ricci v. DeStefano — stemming from a 2003 lieutenants promotions exam. That lawsuit spawned several others, opening a can of worms that the fire department can’t seem to shut.
The current drillmaster promotions test is apparently no different. Firefighter Antonio Almodovar said he thinks the test was unfair, and is consulting an attorney to see if he can block promotions. Almodovar, currently an assistant drillmaster, tested for the drillmaster position and came in second behind Frank Ricci, the named defendant in the Supreme Court infamous lawsuit.
Paul Bass Photo
Ricci (pictured a day earlier, at right, at a Toni Harp campaign rally) showed up Tuesday afternoon in the Hall of Records to watch the Civil Service Commission meeting, which featured an exhaustive explanation of just went wrong in the course of scoring the drillmaster exams.
Noelia Marcano, personnel director, laid out the chain of events. Here’s what she said happened:
After a bidding process, the city contracted with Morris and McDaniel to administer the promotions exams for drillmaster and assistant drillmaster. The drillmaster test consisted on an oral examination only. The assistant drillmaster comprised an oral examination and the submission of sample lesson plans, weighted at 88 percent and 12 percent of the final score, respectively.
Nine firefighters took the assistant drillmaster test on July 30 and 31. Two took the drillmaster test on Aug. 8.
Applicants were informed of their preliminary score and given the opportunity to request a “second review.” Almodovar requested the review, but the panel of four assessors didn’t change his score.
Then in early September, Morris and MacDaniel discovered an error in the scoring.
Librandi explained what happened:
The test was scored initially using a seven-point scale, ranging from “poor” superior.” Anything above a three points is a passing grade.
The scores were then converted to the city’s 100-point scale, in which 70 points is the lowest passing grade.
To do the conversion, Morris and MacDanial initially simply divide 100 by seven, allotting about 14 points for each point of the seven-point scale. But the math isn’t not that simple, as Librandi pointed out. That’s because the passing grade on the 100-point scale doesn’t match up with the one on the seven-point scale.
A passing grade of 3.1 on the seven-point scale, for example, would be a 44 on the 100-point scale, well below passing. The proper way to do the conversion is to set each scale’s passing grade as equal to that of the other scale, match up the top and bottom of the scales, and assign the values in between accordingly.
Correcting the scores resulted in some big changes to lower scores, and smaller shifts to higher ones. All the scores went up.
“The scoring itself, did not change,” Librandi said. The order in which the applicants’ scores were ranked remained consistent, he said.
However, three applicants who had previously been told they failed, were notified they had passed, after the correction to the scores. Ultimately seven firefighters passed the assistant drillmaster test: four white, 1 black, and two Hispanic. A white and a Hispanic applicant failed. Both drillmaster applicants — one white and one Hispanic — passed that exam. The city evaluated the results for disparate impact based on race and found none.
After Librandi’s explanation, the commission voted unanimously to certify the results for one year, with an option to renew.
Almodovar said he’s not upset about the math error, although he thinks it’s fishy. He said he accepts his new score as correct, mathematically. He objects to the form and content of the drillmaster exam.
Almodovar said applicants were given a reading list, but the exam didn’t relate to anything on that list. He said drillmaster applicants submitted an unscored portfolio of their professional accomplishments and the oral exam was an explanation of the portfolio only.
“The exam that I took for drillmaster as weighted 100 percent for the oral exam,” Almodovar said. “Every other exam has consisted of a written component.”
Almodovar said he is “exploring” his options for “challenging the way the exam was conducted.”
After adjustment, Almodovar scored a 92.07 on the drillmaster exam, putting him in second place on the promotions list, behind Ricci, who scored a 95.86.
On the assistant drillmaster test, the certified list is as follows:
Miguel Rosado 93.80
Frank Ricci 91.03
David Vargas 89.20
Jason Balleto 85.98
Jefferey Brabham 79.39
Todd Kornacki 73.84
Louis Oliwa 72.67
After reading the New Haven Register article this morning The Civil Service and Human Resources Offices should be investigated and if wrong doing is found those responsible should be fired or prosecuted. How can a person's test score go from a failing score in the 40's to a passing grade of 72.67, ( because the person is the nephew of the Fire Chief ) and why would the testing company change scores after a month When the results of the tests were most likely in the hands of the Civil Service Office. Maybe the Testing Company didn't and it was someone behind the desk at the Civil Service Office .
It's quite obvious to everyone who has taken a Fire, Police or Public Works test in the past that something has been amiss for years. Rumors have circulated for years that test scores were changed and people's positions on promotional lists were switched. Now we see that all those rumors may be true