HOUSTON – Houston ISD says the three district employees arrested as part of an alleged teacher-certification cheating scheme will be relieved of duty immediately.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced criminal charges Monday against five people accused of participating in a teacher-certification cheating scheme that allowed more than 210 unqualified teachers to work in local school districts.
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Three of those five were employed by Houston ISD.
The district released a statement following the arrests:
HISD was made aware of the investigation into an alleged cheating conspiracy shortly before arrests were made. Any educator who engages in conduct of this nature abdicates their responsibility to our students and to our staff and represents a complete betrayal of the public trust. HISD will cooperate fully with the Texas Education Agency and state and local law enforcement as the investigation progresses. All three of these employees have been arrested and will be receiving notifications relieving them of their duties effective immediately.
Additionally, if it is determined that any teachers currently working in HISD participated in this scheme or passed their certification exams fraudulently, we will take swift action to terminate their employment with the District.
HISD Chief of Public Affairs and Communications, Alexandra Elizondo, also spoke and answered questions following news of the arrests.
“The district did not know about this, we were unaware of the investigation or the conduct in question until we were notified by law enforcement shortly ahead of the arrests, we are still learning information as you all are, the conduct in question is completely unacceptable and completely against every one of HISD’s values that we believe about teacher certification,” she said.
Elizondo said the district doesn‘t know if any or how many educators with the district achieved their credentials fraudulently, but court records state an estimated 430 test were taken fraudulently and more than 210 teachers who didn’t qualify, were then certified.
“We are going to be working in partnership with law enforcement and the Texas Education Agency to determine if the credentials of any of our current teachers need to be reviewed,” she said. “If any teacher currently working at HISD passed their tests through fraudulent means and has a passing Texas score that was obtained through fraudulent means, their contract will be terminated.”