Record-Keeping at 3 Inglewood High Schools Criticized

A state investigation of student records at three Inglewood high schools has uncovered serious record-keeping problems that apparently allowed some students to graduate even though their transcripts said they had not completed required course work. In addition, the study found numerous discrepancies between grades on teacher logs and those recorded on transcripts.

The most significant problem uncovered in the review by the state Department of Education occurred at Morningside High School, where records indicate that four of 16 randomly selected students who graduated last June had not completed all the graduation requirements.

One graduate’s records showed that the student had only half of the 20 required science credits; another was missing five credits of mathematics. Investigators said they do not know whether the students’ records were incorrect or whether the students graduated without completing all the required course work.

“This is pretty serious,” said James Smith, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instructional leadership in the state Department of Education. “Everybody who sees a diploma relies on the integrity of the process. It’s not at all trivial. It’s one of the more egregious errors a school can make.”

At Morningside and Inglewood high schools, the review team also found discrepancies between the grades recorded in teacher logbooks and those on final student transcripts. At Hillcrest Continuation High School, where investigators found the fewest problems, there were no grade discrepancies.

Investigators said that all the irregularities appeared to be inadvertent and were probably the result of carelessness by a combination of administrators, teachers, counselors and record clerks.

The review team recommended that teachers in the Inglewood Unified School District exercise more care in recording grades and that the schools improve their filing systems. To ensure confidentiality, the team said, the schools should stop leaving transcripts in cardboard boxes on counselors’ desks during the day. The investigators also said the district should strengthen its system for determining if a student qualifies for graduation.

“To grant a diploma to a student who failed to meet these requirements degrades the value of the diploma for those students who have met all the criteria,” the investigators said.

The investigation, requested by Supt. George McKenna in November, is a follow-up to an internal audit conducted by the district last fall. At Inglewood High, district officials in late October or early November removed eight file cabinet drawers and three cardboard boxes of student transcripts dating back several years and then returned the transcripts about a week later, school officials said.

In early February, Smith dispatched three staff members to the district, where they reviewed student records at all three schools.

Although Smith said he forwarded a copy of the report, dated March 9, to McKenna earlier this month, school board members and principals at the three high schools reacted with surprise when informed Thursday of the report’s conclusions. McKenna could not be reached for comment, but district spokesman Maurice Wiley confirmed that the report had been received.

The state made a copy of the report available to The Times.

School board President Larry Aubry said there will be “definite responses to this situation,” which he characterized as serious.

“I’m horrified,” board member Zyra McCloud said. “The school district is in a state of emergency. The ship is sinking.”

Board Vice President Joseph Rouzan said he had not seen the report. “I’m shocked to hear the superintendent has not notified us of it. What can I say except, ‘Wow.’ ”

Inglewood High Principal Lawrence Freeman angrily disputed the report’s conclusions and declared, “We have never graduated any student that didn’t meet requirements.”

The report said Inglewood High School officials ordered diplomas for many students who did not meet graduation requirements. However, school officials said district policy allows students who are 10 credits or fewer short of the graduation requirements to participate in graduation ceremonies and pick up their diplomas after completing requirements in summer school. They said the school typically orders diplomas for such students but distributes them only when requirements have been met.

The review team also found that grades had been recorded incorrectly for five of nine randomly selected students at Inglewood High. One student had an A on the spring semester report card, but the teacher’s roll book and the official transcript listed a B. Another student had a D on both the report card and the official transcript but a C on the teacher’s grade summary sheet. Freeman said teachers frequently fill out change-of-grade forms, which the investigators did not take into account. He said such authorized changes are made “all the time.”

One investigator, Leroy Munsch, said in an interview that the review team did not examine teacher-generated grade changes but assumed that such changes would be rare. One of the investigators’ recommendations was that student grade changes should be more carefully documented and justified.

Mallory Matthews, who became acting principal of Morningside earlier this month, said he will take action to improve record-keeping as soon as he sees the report. He said he has already forwarded to the superintendent a request for more staffing in the school’s records office, which is now handled by one person.

“There have been three administrators at this school in the last year,” he said. “With so much change, those things do happen. From now on, we will do a much better job monitoring records.”

At Hillcrest, investigators selected three students of the 21 who graduated last June and found that two of the three had not met the physical education requirement.

Hillcrest does not offer physical education courses, and other electives are often used instead, Hillcrest Principal Arnold Butler said. The state investigators recommended that the school board waive the two-year gym requirement at Hillcrest.