Knightdale —Testing irregularies at Knightdale Elementary School will not affect student scores and was a result of an administrative problem, a Wake County School board member said.

“This was not like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe they did that,” said Lori Millberg, a school board member who represents eastern Wake County. “There are very, very particular rules and it’s easy to cross one of them by mistake.”

Millberg said only a handful of student tests were affected.

“The worse case scenario is their scores couldn’t be averaged into school scores to determine growth,” she said. “I think we need to let the state do their investigation.” School officials announced the testing irregularities when No Child Left Behind scores were released in July.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction is investigating, Millberg said. Former principal Michael Williams was suspended with pay about the same time the irregularities were announced.

School officials would not tie the two together, saying it was a personnel matter and that they could not give a reason for his suspension.

Williams requested a transfer and received it Aug. 5. He is now assistant principal at Wakefield High School.

“I think it should have been handled differently, said Knightdale Elementary parent Janet Denning. “They should have put him in a class (to review testing procedures), not transferred him. He was an excellent principal.

Denning said she was pleased with the quality of education her first grader receives. She said she was reading at the first grade level when she was in kindergarten.

David Collazos, whose second-grade son transferred to Knightdale Elementary from Wilburn in Raleigh, said he had heard about the principal being transferred because of testing irregularities. But he also said that doesn’t change his positive opinion of the school.

“I’m so happy with the teachers,” he added. “The first impression is very good. Everything is perfect, in perfect position. I’m very happy with Knightdale.”

Three of David Medlin’s four sons attended Knightdale Elementary, and he wishes things had happened differently for Williams too.

“I actually liked the principal. He was a good guy,” he said. “I just think it was a bad situation. I don’t know what happened.”

Pete Harrell, who works as a volunteer for Knightdale’s carpool, regretted Williams’ departure under the circumstances.

“I support the principal 100 percent,” she said. “I didn’t work with him as a teacher or assistant, but I am his friend. I have never known him to be anything but tops.” New principal Judy Dudley said everyone was ready to put the incident behind them.

“We do not know anything at the school level,” she said. “I wasn’t privy to whatever happened. But we’ve moved on here. We’re progressing — the staff, the parents. We have work to do.”