The fallout continues from a cheating scandal at Glenn Hills High School, but now it's school board employees being disciplined.
According to school records and interviews with officials, two school employees have been fired and another two demoted after an internal investigation by the school system.
In October, the Georgia Department of Education discovered irregularities in its Georgia Virtual School, an online program administered locally by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers' program. It provided credit recovery, a way for students to regain needed academic credits if they had failed a course.
The investigation found grades had been changed late at night and some students were given scores for tests they never took. One student obtained a teacher's password and changed 27 classmates' grades. All 28 were disciplined.
An internal affairs investigation released this week also found blame with those who ran the program.
The investigation determined that site supervisor Horace Lamback Jr. and program assistant Chris Miller were responsible for overseeing the credit recovery program at Glenn Hills but left that task to Victoria Cook, who was hired to be a lab technician.
The inquiry also found that Mr. Lamback did not perform some of his duties and signed himself in and out of the after-school program for time he didn't work.
Mr. Miller also signed himself in and out for work he didn't perform and did not respond truthfully when asked by an investigator, according to the investigation.
Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Lamback were fired.
Ms. Cook allowed students to get her password by either giving it to them or not securing it properly, the investigation found. She also overstepped her role and performed a job she wasn't trained to do and was not supposed to do because she lacked her teaching certification, the investigation found. She was demoted and made a teacher's assistant.
Ms. Cook said Friday that no one was allowed to copy her password.
"The adults are being held responsible for something a child did," she said. "One of the students actually stole the password."
Kay Crawford, who served as project director of the 21st Century program, was demoted and reassigned as a classroom teacher.
Ms. Crawford was kept in the dark about the cheating investigation because the school wanted to handle the situation internally, the investigation found. She was aware that Ms. Cook was doing more than she should have been doing as a lab tech and confronted her about it several times. Ms. Cook, Mr. Lamback and Mr. Miller were allowed to continue disregarding procedure, the investigation found.
Ms. Crawford was also disciplined for not providing proper supervision of the Glenn Hills site. In a statement to investigator Sgt. Troi Niehus, she wrote a detailed account in her defense.
"It is difficult to be responsible for a program where respect and control is not granted," Ms. Crawford wrote. "I put policies in place; they were not followed."
She complained that she was never given the authority to discipline her subordinates.
"Write-ups became a standing joke referred to as 'nasty grams' and were not taken seriously because staff members could go easily over my head for vindication regardless of documentation," Ms. Crawford wrote.
She described her position with 21st Century as an uphill battle from the outset. She recalled getting the job in 2004 by receiving a call and asking her to come to a school board meeting. She arrived just in time for it to end and was given a 30-page brochure and the responsibility of building a program from scratch.
Her role has been tenuous ever since. In her account to investigators, she said she once pointed out that a school wasn't doing the right thing and the principal subsequently moved her from an assistant principal's office to a closet in the back of the school's gymnasium.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
As the legendary late RCBOE board member Mrs. Kingsley Riley used to say: "It's a new day." Mrs. Riley's got to be singing and dancing in Heaven this morning knowing that the RCSS has a SOS who cares enough about our kids to fire those RCSS employees who don't.
I am very suprised to see Mr. Lamback as a part of this nonesense.
More examples of not taking responsibility for ones actions. Trying to pass the responsibility to the students earned a demotion to teaching assistant for Ms. Cook, who was already unqualified for her position. Let's hope she gains some knowledge. Making Ms Crawford a teacher for her role of utter irresponsibility seems like an exercise in insanity. Would you like a person of this character teaching your child? Well, at least they each got a lesson in accountability.
PT It looks to me more like Ms. Crawford was a convenient person to blame for the shenanigans allowed in this school. She was tasked to do a job and not given the authority to carry it out well. That will set anyone up for failure. I'd think she would be relieved to be out of that position.
Is this Horace Lamback Jr. the same one who was once the principal of Josey?
Now com'on how many people are named "Horace Lamback Jr.?" His sloth finally caught up to him. LOSER!
I guess you never heard of Sammy Davis Sr., Sammy Davis Jr., Martin Luther King Sr., and Martin Luther King Jr. pofwe. I used to work at Josey. I was trying to see was the guy who got fired the former principal, his son, or someone else. I knew him as principal Horace Lamback. I didn't know whether he was a Sr. or Jr. If you know who Horace Lamback Jr. is please let me know.
This kind of thing continues to occur in Richmond County, and it all stems from cronyism, nepotism, and a lack of vision on the part of too many of our district board members, school leaders, and citizens. Until we have board members who actually believe in doing what is in the best interest of the school district and people that are in leadership roles stop hiring based on relationships and friendships we will continue to spiral in a downward cycle. It is shameful the number of people are promoted in this system who lack in good leadership skills. Nothing has changed and it will not change until the citizens demand better. Dr. Beddin cannot do it alone, unfortunate our school system is eroding due to politics.
horace lamback jr is the son of horace lamback sr who was also principal of lamar elementary also.
It would appear that Ms. Crawford would have a court case if she is telling the truth and IF she documented her actions as any good manager would. I personally would like to know more about this Self Education program, you know how much, why, where, when etc. I would bet the success rate for it was 100% before they got caught and I'll bet the RCBOE was patting themselves on the back for a job well done after they implemented it. Does the RCBOE ever talk about education in their meetings or is it as portrayed on tv, just a get together to hand out awards for excellence?
This happens every where. Employess that just will not follow the rules.. Or believe the rules do not apply to them..Well if it goes to the right person they will not get away with it. Like at my job. Go to the owner of the company... It will be taken care of.. Of course the person who told is the outcast. Oh Well!
Eh, this sounds like the least of the problems at Glenn Hills.
Kay Crawford has a great case; I remember when she was trying to do her job and was put behind the gym and then out of the building she went. How can you be in all the sites at the same time? Please get all your facts before throwing blame.....
Mrs. Cook is a Teaching Assistant at Glenn Hills High, there was no action taking against her. What about the principal, Mr. Chambers, who kept this hidden before it broke in the media, is he being held accountable? Sounds fishy. Someone had to take the fall, who was most expendable? ummm
This is what you find if you Google "Harvey Lamback Jr":"written by Horace Lamback, Jr. at 03 Jan 2008 10:35 am. Yo, what's up Josh this is your boy Horace Lamback aka H* [edit] Dog! " PT, instead or worrying about Ms. Crawford's character, perhaps you should concern yourself with the character of Mr. Lamback Jr. I wonder if the school board is going to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Lamback Jr, since he committed fraud against the school system.
None of you know anything about what you are talking about. This whole thing is whitewash. I know the student who started the whole ordeal. The student is very intelligent and the password was not out in the open--the student watched for a period of time and found the hiding place. In my opinion, the student only got a slap on the wrist. Ms. Cook is being made the scape goat in this situation. She is being blamed for a situation that would have never happened if Ms. Crawford had been doing her job. I also know Mr. Lamback personally. Again, he is being blamed for a situation in which he was given little guidance regarding the implementation of the program. Mr. Chambers also has culpability in this situation. If the covers really came off about what is going on at Glenn Hills under his watch, the entire administration there would be fired. Subordinates are once again taking the fall for the people in charge. Put a young looking reporter in the school for a week posing as a student, and you would have enough info to do a whole series on this poor excuse for a school administration.
If what you say is true eaglesnest, I don't see how Ms. Crawford could be responsible for this. Mr. Chambers maybe, since it's his school, but Ms. Crawford has several other schools to work with besides Glenn Hills. It asking to much to expect her to prevent a child from stealing from a teacher. And in my opinion, Ms. Cook should've never allowed the student to steal from her in the first place, if that is what happened. It's the teachers responsibility to take care of the students. A student should NEVER have the opportunity to steal from a teacher, barring extenuating circumstances. If that happens, it's because of a lapse in the teacher's judgement and said teacher should be disciplined. I suspect that if Ms. Cook had been doing the job she was hired for and not something she wasn't qualified to do, that student would've never had the chance to steal the password.
The password was a state password that even the state did not know would provide access to changing grades or test results. It was used for another purpose--there again the student is very intelligent. It's like discovering that the password to login to the forums section of the newspaper had a hidden access to the personnel files of the employees at the paper; a backdoor, so to speak. My point is that there is a whitewash going on and that Ms. Crawford knew that Ms. Cook was doing duties outside of her realm of responsibility, and did nothing about it. If she had responsibilities at several schools, and had the type of problems described in the article, then she should have established a paper trail to document it. If I have a student that tells me in confidence about an abusive home situation, and I turn that information over to DFACS as required by law, I have fulfilled my obligation--regardless of what actions are taken by DFACS. So if an investigation takes place, I can provide documentation that I reported this incident at this time and date and spoke to a particular caseworker. This is the tail end of the Charles Larke legacy.
My question is, why did the student have this password in the first place? Was it something all students had access to? Or was it just Ms. Cook? And if the state didn't know about the extra accessing rights of this password, why aren't they assisting in dealing with this problem, since apparently it's partially they're fault for not informing the schools about this beforehand.
Also, according to the article, Ms. Crawford said she did establish a paper trail of some sort. Just that they weren't taken seriously by the administration. Seems to me that it didn't matter whether she wrote up Ms. Cook and the others or not, nothing was being done by the administration.
So the student was a sneak and a thief...no intelligence needed there..you can teach a chimp to do the same........................
(C)rackertroy, the human problems at GHHS should consider themselves forewarned: There will be a new sheriff in town come 7/1. Judging from his track record at The RCSS Alternative School and at TMS, he does not suffer those who do not put the interests of his students first!
Speaking from a teachers perspective the teacher should not have written the password down, she should have memorized the password. She memorized her ATM password, she memorized her email password,she should have memorized her teacher grade password.
Now, speaking from a parents perspective, the students were wrong, they knew it was wrong to steal a password. The students should have been punished, which they were. The coordinators should not have held responsible for the teachers negligence. Now, the fact that they were signed in to work and were not working that is another situation, which they should have been reprimanded not fired. I agree with CraigSpinks when Frazier is there next school term the entire GHHS system as the teachers and students know will no longer exist. The reason Chambers was not reprimanded is because this is his last year in the system, he is RETIRING! YEAHHHHHHHHH!
The wayward students should be punished as well; there were many more players in this scheme than the adults mentioned. However, this is just another way of teaching the young that they do not have to accept responsibilty for anything.
Bet the individual who's password was stolen just happened to be "afro-american"? Hmm?
FYI Petersteelmore, no one says AFRO AMERICAN anymore!
Ms. Crawford & her staff have documented the activities of the program from its inception because it was required by the grant to do so. Many of the staff did what they wanted to do regardless of the many staff meetings, handbooks, & email reminders that went out on a daily basis to ensure that the criteria of the grant & documentation for auditors were complete. It's also true that when employees received notices re: not doing their jobs, they would refuse to acknowledge that they weren't doing their jobs. More time was spent trying to get these employees to complete their assigned task than it should have. Ms. Crawford did not receive the support of her superiors to discipline these people; therefore they did what they wanted. The rules remained the same each year & each year the same people acted as if they had never done the job before. Also, help was frequently offered as well as training sessions, etc. Do you think these individuals would ask for help when & if they didn't understand a directive? No, on most occasions. It would have been helpful if her superiors at the board took the write-ups more seriously & backed her since she could not remove non-productive staff!
The superiors are the same ones who hav been there since Dr. Larke. They will deny any knowledge and let all others take the fall. If I were Mrs. Crawfor, I would think she needs to contact PSC and a lawyer. This incident is very minimal compared to everything else that goes on. Quit turning a blind eye and start investigating. I don't care what color they are.
Check on this, I believe that Lamback Sr (and therefore Jr) is related by marriage to Dr. Larke. No nepotism there huh????? And if Lamback "signed himself in and out of the after-school program for time he didn't work", that is theft and he should be prosecuted. What will Dr Bedden do with that? SEND A MESSAGE AND SEND THEM TO JAIL!!!!!
There is alot more to the story than what made the paper. There was alot that was covered up and swept under the rug in the past. Everybody gets caught up in the hype but the kids are the ones that are missing out. The leadership was off to begin with. Ms. Crawford didnt have the proper training and that seemingly went down to everyone underneath her. 21st Century would have been an excellent program if they had the proper leadership and guidance. Ms. Crawford should have not been outside the classroom. She made more excuses than she did work. She should have been sent to the classroom 5 years ago. I hope the board thinks about this and they send in a real leader and people that are passionate about helping these kids and not just a paycheck.
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