Gayla Grise Stewart County Tennessee school guidance counselor charged with falsifying high school student’s academic grades. Busted changing at least 3 student’s grades.
A former Tennessee school guidance counselor is accused of having improperly changed the marks on students’ transcripts, authorities said.
Gayla Grise, 51, who worked at Stewart County High School, was arrested Wednesday on two counts of falsifying educational and academic records, WSMV reported. The former educator who had been booked at Stewart County Jail was released later that day after making $500 bond.
School officials caught onto Grise’s alleged scheme when a teacher noticed an unauthorized grade change in the academic system last September and notified the principal, according to Stewart County Director of Schools Mike Craig, the Leaf-Chronicle reported.
The principal then discovered a second grade that was altered in the system and confronted Grise, who allegedly admitted to swapping grades.
But there was more to come.
Students were unaware that their grades were being swapped out
The following day, school authorities also learned of a third incident and revoked Grise’s access to the system and placed her on unpaid administrative leave.
It is believed that the students weren’t aware of the scheme.
‘From what my investigation shows … the students didn’t know this was going on,’ Craig said at a board meeting.
Grise, who worked for the district for more than a decade, was fired in October. It remained unclear whether the former school counselor had graded student’s marks up or down and how she came to choose the students whose grades she tampered with.
Counselor deeply connected to upper authorities
Not immediately clear is how long Grise who had worked at the school for over a decade had been tampering with grades, and what opportunity costs and lost college placements that this may have cost students.
The Leaf Chronicle identified Grise as the sister of Stewart County Sherriff Frankie Grey and Leta Joiner, former director of schools for Stewart County.
Of note, Grise has an outstanding lawsuit with the school system after filing in March that she had been wrongfully dismissed.
