Posted on 06/20/2004 5:39:48 AM PDT by Theodore R.
School principal reassigned amid tampering case
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston school district has reassigned an alternative high school principal after an investigation found that someone changed students' grades.
Roy Morgan, principal at the Middle College for Technology Careers High School, will work a desk job at a district office until the investigation is finished, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday.
Morgan, who earns $74,059 a year, could not be reached for comment Friday. He has been principal at the school, whose 300 students focus on computer technology training, since 1998.
The investigation began with an anonymous tip May 27.
Superintendent Kaye Stripling issued a written statement saying the district would not tolerate "any form of grade tampering or data manipulation."
"If our internal investigation proves wrongdoing on anyone's part, that employee will be dealt with swiftly and decisively," Stripling said.
District investigators have seized the school's grade books for the last year and are reviewing grades from the past three years, district spokesman Terry Abbott said.
He declined to say how many grades might have been changed but called instances of grade tampering in the district "very rare."
Allegations that school money was mishandled are also being investigated, Abbott said. He declined to elaborate.
A teachers' union official said principals are under pressure to make sure few children fail.
"If you have too many failures, it makes your school look bad," said June Danford with the Houston Federation of Teachers. "That means the principal's going to be yelled at and everybody's in trouble."
"If you have too many failures, it makes your school look bad," said June Danford with the Houston Federation of Teachers. "That means the principal's going to be yelled at and everybody's in trouble."
This is part of the ongoing politicalization of education -- underway particularly since the late 1960s.
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