7 on leave after inquiry into grade changing at
Montgomery Public Schools
Investigations
into grade changing allegations within Montgomery Public Schools has led to seven
employees being placed on administrative leave for allegedly pressuring
teachers to make improper changes before ultimately making the changes
themselves, according to
The grade changing allegations
were first reported by the Montgomery Advertiser, following a six-month
investigation and interviews with more than 40 current and former
of changes led to
one by a former FBI investigator hired by the Montgomery County Board of
Education and the other by the Alabama State Department of Education – over the past two
months.
“We did find a small
number of employees who were not following the guidelines in place,” Thompson
said.
The investigations
conducted by the ALSDE and
three schools – Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Sidney Lanier – were
affected by the changes, and employees from those schools have been placed on
leave. A press release from
hearing and could face disciplinary action that could result in the loss of
their teaching
certificates
and termination.
“The action to remove
these seven individuals was immediate,” Thompson said. “There is a process that
we have to go through and these people have the right to defend themselves. I
think a lot of what happens from here (for the seven on leave) will be
determined by interviews they have with (ALSDE).”
Thompson would not name
the employees placed on leave.
Thompson also pointed out
several times that no classroom teachers were found to have changed grades. In
the stories that appeared in the Advertiser, several teachers said they either
improperly changed grades or witnessed teachers who did so, and several
estimated as many as half the teachers at some schools had improperly changed
grades.
But Thompson said the
investigations found no evidence of that.
