ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. — The Anderson County School Board of Education met Thursday evening with one of the topics being Clinton High School and the grade-fixing investigation.
The investigation first came to light after it was announced that Clinton High School's football coach Darell Keith would not coach the Dragons for the 2024-25 school year.
The board provided the following timeline of what happened:
- On Jan. 11, 2024, the Director of Student Services Paula Sellers reported to the Assistant Director of Schools Greg Deal that the juvenile court was upset and wanted Anderson County School's explanation as to why a juvenile was in court told the judge that he "graduated" from Clinton High School, yet Ms. Sellers had submitted documentation indicating the same student was still enrolled at CHS
- Deal told Sellers to call CHS principal Dan Jenkins and have him come to the next court date and provide an explanation for the court (Jenkins later sent Assistant Principal Nate Martin in his place)
- On March 7, 2024, the Director of Secondary Education Suzi Schmidt and the testing coordinator Andrea Russell met with the Director of Schools, Dr. Tim Parrott and told him several students at CHS had somehow not taken the end-of-course exams
- On March 20, 2024, because of unanswered questions, Dr. Parrott directed Deal to investigate how this happened and came to be at CHS
- Deal looked at the student at issue's Skyward account and saw that the student was placed at the Clinch River Community School shortly before he graduated on Dec. 15, 2023. It was then discovered the same student somehow "earned" five credits in only eight days immediately after returning to CHS. The student shows only 26 credits in total.
- After such information was relayed to Dr Parrott, he then called attorney Chris McCarty for advice on how to proceed
- Due to knowing at least one CHS student showed serious credit irregularities, McCarty recommended self-reporting the situation to the Tennessee Department of Education while also seeking guidance
- McCarty then advised reporting the situation to the District Attorney's office for further consideration and investigation
- On March 25, 2024, McCarty contacted TDOE's General Counsel Christy Ballard and she recommended making a report to Deputy Commissioner Sam Pearcy
- On March 26, 2024, the Director of Schools asked administrators, including Deal and Schmidt, to look at all schedules and transcripts of senior students at both CHS and Anderson County High School to see if they saw or found any irregularities with student credits
- On April 2, 2024, Deal, Schmidr, Russell and Kim Towe finished looking through and reviewing student schedules and transcripts and submitted a report to Dr. Parrott
- On April 11, 2024, Dr. Parrott entered into an executive session with board counsel present to inform board members of the investigation
- On April 12, 2024, Dr. Parrott prepared and signed suspension pending further investigation letters for both Jenkins and Jones, When faced with suspension, Jenkins chose to immediately resign while Jones accepted her suspension
- On April 19, 2024, Clark ordered an investigation, Dr. Parrott Deal met with detectives Anderson County Sheriff's Office
- On May 2, 2024, Deal and Schmidt began interviewing CHS staff as part of the ongoing investigation
- On May 13, 2024, Dr. Parrott presented proposed charges of dismissal for Joneas and Clay Turpin to the ACBOE, with the board approving those charges
- On May 14, 2024, Dr. Parrott met with Turpin and Jones providing them both with copies of the charges
- On May 15, 2024, Turpin and Jones submitted letters of resignation
- On May 21, 2024, Deal and Schmidt completed their interviews of CHS staff members (In total, they interviewed 16 teachers, counselors and administrators, as well as two parents)
- On May 21, 2024, Dr. Parrott meets with football coach Darell Keith. Keith was informed that his employment and contract would not be renewed for the 2024-2025 school year
- On May 21, 2024, Dr. Parrott and Schmidt met with CHS counselors Morgan Bradley, Meredith Brown and Brittany Sweet, who also received non-renewal letters. Carrie Jenkins, who was tenured, was suspended instead placed on suspension without pay status pending the outcome of the investigation
- On May 22, 2024, Deal and Schmidt met Dr. Parrott to inform him they had completed the investigation
- On May 29, 2024, the administration submitted an updated plan for correction to PEarcy and Ballard
- On June 24, 2024, Carrie Jenkins submitted her letter of resignation as a tenured employee
- As of July 8, 2024, six more CHS students have completed all required coursework and received their high school diplomas. Five more are still working on the same.
Many community members are pushing back against the investigation, saying staff members are being blamed for the board's failures. They are asking the state to investigate the school system.
"The impropriety, the unprofessionalism of the way that this has been handled after well-meaning educators is suspect. We don't trust this school system," community member Courtney Atnip said. "We are asking the state to come and intervene. We are asking for their help."