SPRING, Texas – A widening scandal within the Spring Independent School District is now calling into question class rankings and potentially jeopardizing scholarship opportunities for some students. The scandal grew out of a discovery earlier this year the district had not been properly tracking student progress toward graduation.
Spring ISD officials began examining student transcripts after receiving a letter from the Texas Education Agency regarding discrepancies in end-of-course exam information.
More than 100 parents and students showed up at a meeting at Dekaney High School on Monday night to voice concerns and hear from superintendent Rodney Watson, who took over the district in July.
Felicia Frank said she just found out Spring ISD is now going to have to recalculate class rankings because of shoddy record keeping and incomplete student transcripts. These rankings are vital to many students fighting for acceptance at top tier universities.
"My daughter has worked hard to be in the top 10 and I don't want this to affect her," said Frank.
Earlier this year the district discovered years of neglect when it came to making sure student grades were accurately recorded and when it came to making sure students had taken the courses needed to graduate high school.
One mother who spoke at the meeting but asked Channel 2 not to use her name said her son was continually told he did not need to take a foreign language to graduate from high school. She said the district only recently notified her that her son would, in fact, have to take a foreign language or he would not be allowed to graduate this year.
"So now he's going to have to figure out how to cram two years of a foreign language into six weeks," the mother said.
Another mother and father who spoke at the meeting said their son lost a scholarship because an incomplete transcript delayed his admission to Prairie View A&M.
"By the time we got it corrected, it was too late, there was no more scholarships," the parents said at the meeting.
Students also spoke at the meeting. High school senior Areana Cruz told district officials she was forced to take the same state algebra test over and over because the school kept losing the results. Cruz said she finally had the state mail her tests results to her house.
"It took me to bring (the results) to the school to let them know that I did pass, so that way I didn't take another test that I shouldn't have been taking because I already passed it," said Cruz.
Spring ISD officials said there are problems with 395 senior transcripts at Dekaney High, 300 at Spring High and 400 at Westfield high school. These incomplete transcripts could prevent many seniors from graduating in May because they didn't take all required courses or were given credit for courses they didn't take.
Lansonya Sammons said she has long dealt with record keeping problems at her daughter's school.
"Don't give that you just found in December when I've been dealing with it for two years," said Sammons.
Watson assured the crowd these problems would be remedied and that his administration would rebuild the community's trust in Spring ISD. Watson told parents the recalculation of class rankings should be complete by the end of spring break.
Spring ISD is offering night classes, on-line courses and summer classes to help seniors complete required course work and graduate this year.
Spring ISD officials said the problem with incomplete student transcripts goes back to the 2008-2009 school. The district has not yet tackled how it will address issues regarding students who have already graduated.