JR2004
10-09-2008, 11:18 PM
Brett Shipp is at it again. Honestly if they cheated then just strip them of the the titles and wins Arthur was a part of. What bothers me about this is that this is becoming a personal crusade by Shipp. (You can read the transcript of the report below or you can click on the link to watch WFAA's report.)
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa081009_mo_disd.f94d1914.html
DISD grade-changing probe to reopen
11:12 PM CDT on Thursday, October 9, 2008
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA-TV
DALLAS - While Superintendent Michael Hinojosa declared the South Oak Cliff grade-changing scandal closed, News 8 did not.
Over the past two months, News 8 has put the Dallas Independent School District's internal investigation under the microscope and found so many potential holes in the report that Hinojosa is now changing his stance.
He said he is no longer convinced that Darrell Arthur, a star player for South Oak Cliff in 2005 and now a player for Kansas' national championship team, had enough credits to attend college.
Two months ago, Hinojosa closed the book on the grade-changing scandal. Administrators, coaches and athletes had all been cleared by DISD investigators. However, not the case is being re-opened.
"I am going to reopen the investigation to have a legal review, an independent legal review," he said.
News 8 has uncovered new evidence to suggest a high profile athlete on the 2005 state championship basketball team may not have been eligible to play, or even graduate.
The investigation into alleged improper grade changing at South Oak Cliff could cost the basketball team yet another state title and reopen questions about whether Arthur should have graduated .
Last May, News 8 raised questions about improper grade changes for the emerging star dating back to his freshman year. Grade transcripts obtained by News 8 show Arthur with missing Algebra grades on his working transcript, and his final Algebra grade mysteriously changed to passing. Arthur appeared to be the innocent beneficiary of some adult's desire to win.
The elements of the News 8 story soon became the focus of an internal investigation conducted by DISD', Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Their results, which were made public a few weeks ago, completely dismissed the allegations from News 8's report. At the time, Hinojosa officially declared the case closed.
But a review of the OPR report revealed possible major omissions, starting with the failure to contact Winford Ashmore, the math teacher News 8 interviewed in the first story on alleged grade changing for Arthur.
Ashmore said when Arthur was failing Algebra I as a freshman in the fall of 2002, his coach asked for leniency. Ashmore said when he refused, Arthur was abruptly removed to another class.
The fact that Ashmore ever taught Arthur at all is mysteriously missing from the working transcripts.
Instead of checking out Ashmore's concerns, investigators dismissed them by saying Arthur "did not compete as a varsity player that year," a statement that is actually incorrect. A varsity team photo and roster clearly shows Arthur was on the team and averaged 8 points a game.
Had district investigators thoroughly reviewed Arthur's transcripts, they would have found other cases of irregularities and omissions.
A closer examination of Arthur's grades reveal that his English III grades of 75, 60, 70 and 65 don't actually add up to a 70 as is reflected on his transcript. In fact, the average should be 67.5, meaning he should have failed the course that is needed to graduate
His teacher at the time, John Yourse, said this raises questions that need to be answered.
"No teacher has the authority or power or control over the system to turn a grade like this into something that it is not," he said.
Yourse was also not interviewed by district investigators for their report.
"Like I said, he just kind of checked out that third six weeks," he said.
Melanie Kidd was Arthur's theater arts teacher in the fall of 2004. She said she remembers Arthur failed the course during the final six weeks. Arthur made a grade of 50, she said. But that failing grade was ignored as Arthur continued to star for his team on its way to winning the 2005 State Championship.
U.I.L. "No Pass, No Play" rules state that students who fail are ineligible to play. If they do play, those games are subject to forfeiture.
According to his transcripts, Arthur's grades for the last six weeks of theater are missing.
Kidd was also not interviewed by district investigators.
A block of grades from Arthur's Algebra II were also missing on the transcript from the fall semester of 2005.
All that is present is a final grade, which was changed from failing to a passing grade of 70 nine months later in September the following year.
It was changed by then Principal Donald Moten without the math teacher's signature or knowledge. That is an apparent violation of state law that says "an examination or course grade issued by a classroom teacher is final and may not be changed unless the grade is arbitrary or erroneous."
What's more, according to the DISD policy that's printed on the bottom of a grade change form, "errors in students' grades must be corrected within ten days after the grading period ends."
It's a rule that for some athletes, apparently was repeatedly ignored and never addressed in the district's investigation.
After showing Superintendent Hinojosa just some of News 8's concerns about the OPR report, he came to this conclusion.
"So, there are too many questions at this time for us to just leave it alone," he said. "That's why we are going to ask for an outside independent review, legal review."
That means an unexpected expenditure of taxpayer funds to re-investige a probe by the district's own internal investigative unit.
"You want the truth and we want the truth," Hinojosa said when asked about the problems from the first investigation. "And regardless of what we arrive to, the most important thing is that we get to the truth."
And the truth could also reopen the debate over whether Arthur technically had enough credits to graduate. And if not, was he technically eligible to play basketball at the University of Kansas where last year he led his team to the national title?
NCAA officials have confirmed that if Arthur never officially graduated, his eligibility at Kansas is something that may have to be investigated.
E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa081009_mo_disd.f94d1914.html
DISD grade-changing probe to reopen
11:12 PM CDT on Thursday, October 9, 2008
By BRETT SHIPP / WFAA-TV
DALLAS - While Superintendent Michael Hinojosa declared the South Oak Cliff grade-changing scandal closed, News 8 did not.
Over the past two months, News 8 has put the Dallas Independent School District's internal investigation under the microscope and found so many potential holes in the report that Hinojosa is now changing his stance.
He said he is no longer convinced that Darrell Arthur, a star player for South Oak Cliff in 2005 and now a player for Kansas' national championship team, had enough credits to attend college.
Two months ago, Hinojosa closed the book on the grade-changing scandal. Administrators, coaches and athletes had all been cleared by DISD investigators. However, not the case is being re-opened.
"I am going to reopen the investigation to have a legal review, an independent legal review," he said.
News 8 has uncovered new evidence to suggest a high profile athlete on the 2005 state championship basketball team may not have been eligible to play, or even graduate.
The investigation into alleged improper grade changing at South Oak Cliff could cost the basketball team yet another state title and reopen questions about whether Arthur should have graduated .
Last May, News 8 raised questions about improper grade changes for the emerging star dating back to his freshman year. Grade transcripts obtained by News 8 show Arthur with missing Algebra grades on his working transcript, and his final Algebra grade mysteriously changed to passing. Arthur appeared to be the innocent beneficiary of some adult's desire to win.
The elements of the News 8 story soon became the focus of an internal investigation conducted by DISD', Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Their results, which were made public a few weeks ago, completely dismissed the allegations from News 8's report. At the time, Hinojosa officially declared the case closed.
But a review of the OPR report revealed possible major omissions, starting with the failure to contact Winford Ashmore, the math teacher News 8 interviewed in the first story on alleged grade changing for Arthur.
Ashmore said when Arthur was failing Algebra I as a freshman in the fall of 2002, his coach asked for leniency. Ashmore said when he refused, Arthur was abruptly removed to another class.
The fact that Ashmore ever taught Arthur at all is mysteriously missing from the working transcripts.
Instead of checking out Ashmore's concerns, investigators dismissed them by saying Arthur "did not compete as a varsity player that year," a statement that is actually incorrect. A varsity team photo and roster clearly shows Arthur was on the team and averaged 8 points a game.
Had district investigators thoroughly reviewed Arthur's transcripts, they would have found other cases of irregularities and omissions.
A closer examination of Arthur's grades reveal that his English III grades of 75, 60, 70 and 65 don't actually add up to a 70 as is reflected on his transcript. In fact, the average should be 67.5, meaning he should have failed the course that is needed to graduate
His teacher at the time, John Yourse, said this raises questions that need to be answered.
"No teacher has the authority or power or control over the system to turn a grade like this into something that it is not," he said.
Yourse was also not interviewed by district investigators for their report.
"Like I said, he just kind of checked out that third six weeks," he said.
Melanie Kidd was Arthur's theater arts teacher in the fall of 2004. She said she remembers Arthur failed the course during the final six weeks. Arthur made a grade of 50, she said. But that failing grade was ignored as Arthur continued to star for his team on its way to winning the 2005 State Championship.
U.I.L. "No Pass, No Play" rules state that students who fail are ineligible to play. If they do play, those games are subject to forfeiture.
According to his transcripts, Arthur's grades for the last six weeks of theater are missing.
Kidd was also not interviewed by district investigators.
A block of grades from Arthur's Algebra II were also missing on the transcript from the fall semester of 2005.
All that is present is a final grade, which was changed from failing to a passing grade of 70 nine months later in September the following year.
It was changed by then Principal Donald Moten without the math teacher's signature or knowledge. That is an apparent violation of state law that says "an examination or course grade issued by a classroom teacher is final and may not be changed unless the grade is arbitrary or erroneous."
What's more, according to the DISD policy that's printed on the bottom of a grade change form, "errors in students' grades must be corrected within ten days after the grading period ends."
It's a rule that for some athletes, apparently was repeatedly ignored and never addressed in the district's investigation.
After showing Superintendent Hinojosa just some of News 8's concerns about the OPR report, he came to this conclusion.
"So, there are too many questions at this time for us to just leave it alone," he said. "That's why we are going to ask for an outside independent review, legal review."
That means an unexpected expenditure of taxpayer funds to re-investige a probe by the district's own internal investigative unit.
"You want the truth and we want the truth," Hinojosa said when asked about the problems from the first investigation. "And regardless of what we arrive to, the most important thing is that we get to the truth."
And the truth could also reopen the debate over whether Arthur technically had enough credits to graduate. And if not, was he technically eligible to play basketball at the University of Kansas where last year he led his team to the national title?
NCAA officials have confirmed that if Arthur never officially graduated, his eligibility at Kansas is something that may have to be investigated.
E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com