SPECIAL REPORT : Coercion Claim at Dorsey High

A teacher at Dorsey High School has complained to school administrators that basketball Coach Kevin Gibson tried to coerce him into changing a failing grade so one of Gibson’s star players would be eligible to compete.

In addition, The Times has obtained records that show two of the player’s grades were changed after the grading deadline had passed, which an L.A. Unified School District administrator said would be a violation if certain procedures were not followed.

Because Dorsey’s athletic department was put on two-year probation in November by the City Section for continued paperwork deficiencies, the Dons could be withheld from the playoffs and their probation extended if accusations prove true, according to Barbara Fiege, the City Section director of athletics.

While Dorsey administrators investigate the charges against Gibson and the grade changes, the player in question, Lamont Frazier, continues to compete. He has started in 10 games, averaging 13 points and seven rebounds, since the allegations by government teacher Mike Liskey were first made in November.

Sources have also confirmed that school administrators are questioning the legitimacy of a second basketball player’s class credits.

Marcus Mason, the Don’s starting center, received a grade for 10 weeks of progress in a basketball “service class” although he was enrolled for only three weeks, according to sources close to the basketball team. Gibson teaches that class.

James Alther, assistant principal in charge of athletics, said he had concerns about Frazier’s grade changes before Liskey told school administrators that Gibson had asked him to change Frazier’s grade from an F to a C.

“We are looking into Mr. Liskey’s accusations regarding the basketball team,” Alther said. “We are and have been asking questions about grade changes.”

Liskey, 27, who also coaches soccer, said in an interview that Gibson approached him just before grades were due in November.

“He asked me specifically to change [Frazier’s grade],” Liskey said. “I asked him if I understood him right--that he was asking me to raise the F grade to a C, and he said, ‘Yes.’ I was shocked that the head coach was asking me to do that.”

Gibson, 40, who led the Dons to the City Section 4-A final in 1992 and ‘93, denied any wrongdoing. He said Liskey approached him about Frazier.

“I have never asked a teacher to change a grade,” Gibson said. “He came to me in the P.E. office. I did tell him the young man had messed up but had worked hard in the class and didn’t deserve a F.”

But according to several of Frazier’s teachers, such practices involving coaches are not uncommon.

“I’ve been asked to change grades before,” said one teacher who asked not to be identified and was not referring to Gibson. “I got pinned up against a wall and spit on by a coach. He told me that [Dorsey] has to cheat because everyone else is cheating.”

Liskey, who had been at the school for 12 weeks, said he was unsure how to respond to Gibson’s request. He said he told the coach he needed time to consider it. But several days later--as grades were about due--Liskey said Gibson asked about Frazier’s grade again.

“I told him that I didn’t feel comfortable giving [Frazier] a grade he didn’t earn,” Liskey said. “Then he told me I was hurting the kid. That if it wasn’t for basketball, Frazier would be selling drugs on the streets.

“I said what lesson was he learning if the coach always fixes his problems. [Frazier] had to take responsibility.”

Gibson denied making those statements. He said their brief conversations focused on Frazier’s problems in the class. Gibson also said he believes Liskey made the accusations because he was passed over for a coaching assignment earlier in the semester.

“The whole thing seems personal,” said Gibson, coach at Dorsey for five years. “Liskey came to me and told me he wanted to coach the freshman [basketball] team, but I gave it to another assistant. He told me Frazier could have avoided all these troubles with his class if I would have let him coach.”

Liskey said that he did ask Gibson about coaching the freshman team but was told he wasn’t needed. Liskey said he respected the decision.

“And the last thing I would do would be to persecute a student because I had problems with his coach,” Liskey said.

Frazier, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard and the team’s second-leading scorer, was in danger of being declared ineligible in November after earning a D average for the midterm grading period.

Records show that Frazier’s grades in geometry and physical science were changed about three weeks after the grading period ended and five days after report cards were handed out.

The late changes increased Frazier’s grade-point average from 1.7 to the state-required 2.0 minimum he needed to play.

The fall semester deadline for midterm grades was Nov. 7. Teachers were required to turn grades in the next day. A computer printout of the grades was returned to them so they could verify that no mistakes were made.

At that point, corrections were supposed to be made and the final rosters returned by Nov. 13.

According to two grade lists printed out on Nov. 17 and again on Nov. 27, Frazier’s grades were changed during that time span.

Dick Browning, director of city senior high instruction, said that each school is responsible for meeting the deadlines. He also said there are specific procedures for changing grades.

“The reason would be some mistake on the part of the teacher,” Browning said. “If they entered the grade wrong or made a mistake calculating the grade.”

But the teachers who changed Frazier’s grades said they acted properly.

John Turner, a geometry teacher and baseball coach, changed Frazier’s grade from a C to B. He said he felt obligated to let Frazier turn in missing homework because he had not informed his mother, Robin Walton, that her son was failing.

“On parent conference night, his mother asked me why I hadn’t told her Lamont was doing badly,” Turner said. “We’re supposed to tell the parents when their kids are having trouble. So I really owed it to them.”

But Turner’s grade book showed Frazier had earned a C at the end of the 10-week period. Turner said he thought the student was failing because the mother said so.

“I just thought I made a mistake,” Turner said.

But Walton said she never talked to Turner about her son’s failing grade because she knew he had earned a C. After all, she got his report card that evening.

“I talked to all the teachers but I never told Turner I was unhappy about Lamont’s grade,” Walton said. “I didn’t ask him to let Lamont make up any homework.”

Turner also acknowledged that he did not follow procedure when changing Frazier’s grade. He said he returned to the office several days after report cards were issued and found his verification rosters still sitting where he had left them almost a week before.

Instead of filing a change-of-grade request, which district rules stipulate, Turner said he made the change on the verification roster. He said an assistant principal, Elaine Isaacson, questioned him and allowed him to continue.

Isaacson said she doesn’t remember the incident.

Asked why he didn’t follow procedure, Turner said, “I wanted to avoid all that. It takes an act of God to change the grades, with all the paperwork and going to the principal.”

Glenda Pepin, Frazier’s physical science teacher, raised Frazier’s grade from a B to an A.

Pepin, who is also the softball coach, said she was too busy the week grades were due to give Frazier an in-class assignment he missed when he was sick.

“We’re supposed to give students who have been sick a chance to make up work,” Pepin said. “It would have been unfair to penalize Lamont because I was too busy to schedule the makeup.”

Records show Frazier was in attendance for his other classes during that week.

Indeed, there is some discrepancy in the amount of time Frazier missed school. For example, in 10 weeks, Frazier had nine absences in Pepin’s class, 18 in Spanish but none in basketball.

In Mason’s case, school administrators recently began investigating why Gibson waited seven weeks before telling administrators that the 6-8, 250-pound Mason was in his service class.

Sources close to the basketball program confirmed that Gibson told Dorsey administrators that he had forgotten to put Mason on his class roster and wanted him to receive credit anyway.

Alther initially denied the request and declared Mason academically ineligible. The case was appealed to Dorsey Principal Jerelene Wells, who overruled Alther, giving Mason the class credit.

Mason received an A in the class--which is similar to being a teacher’s aid--raising his GPA to the 2.0 minimum.

The City Section’s Fiege said the section will look into the situation. She said she was unaware of any program found guilty of violations while already on probation and wasn’t certain of the extent of penalties that might be levied, though exclusion from the playoffs would be possible.

“My first action will be to contact the Dorsey administration and present the information,” Fiege said. “They will be asked to respond after doing their own investigation.”