This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The yearlong saga of a junior high school honors English teacher, who was fired for refusing to grade a subjective portion of a standardized test on ethical grounds, has come to an end, but not before the Granite School District engineered one last ploy to keep the ordeal as secret as possible.

I have written several times about former Wasatch Junior High School teacher Ann Florence, who was ousted last March after she refused to grade a writing portion of the districtwide Acuity test. She argued it would be unethical to subjectively evaluate her own students' performance on an exam by which teachers themselves would be judged.

Florence had been a vocal critic of the Acuity exam and the frequency of such required tests, arguing they took away from valuable teaching time. When her disciplinary actions began, I was told by district officials that she was a lone voice against the testing policy and that most teachers backed it.

But I received numerous emails from teachers throughout the district, echoing Florence's concerns but fearful of speaking out. Florence's fate further cemented their worries.

She initially was suspended, creating a stir in the Wasatch Junior High community, with parents and hundreds of students rallying to her defense. That's when Granite began what appeared to be a stealth operation against Florence.

Students launched a petition drive to have her reinstated. But she was officially fired during spring break, while school was out and nobody was around to mount a visible protest.

She immediately found support, including from former Salt Lake City School Superintendent Don Thomas. A fundraising group worked to raise money to help Florence as she appealed her dismissal, but the amount couldn't compete with the thousands Granite spent on attorneys to fight her case.

A Human Resources administrator in Granite was the hearing officer for her appeal and, in a closed meeting, upheld her termination.

As was her right, she appealed to an officer outside the district. In that second hearing, a human resources administrator from Washington School District upheld her firing in February in another closed hearing.

Florence was charged about $2,500 for her share of that hearing officer's expenses.

Then, on Tuesday, the district administered the coup de grĂ¢ce.

The Granite School Board had to vote to formalize the dismissal, and it had to do so in a public meeting. But officials made sure the public meeting would be as private as they legally could make it.

Florence had invited a number of allies to come to the meeting. But for two weeks, she could not get the district to tell her where her issue would appear on the agenda.

Finally, she sent an email asking her supporters to come at 6 p.m. After that, the board slotted her in at 5 p.m.

Board members had a quick hearing, voted unanimously to fire Florence, then went into a closed session about the time some 40 Florence backers showed up.

Afterward, board members slipped out a back door, thus skirting the supporters who were mingling in front of the district building.