Grades of Alleged Phony Teacher to Be Reviewed

Students enrolled in classes taught by an Inglewood instructor who was arrested last week on charges of impersonating a real teacher will be allowed to appeal grades they earned in his class, district officials said Tuesday.

Supt. McKinley Nash said the district plans to review grades issued by Willie Clifton Wright, a convicted forger who allegedly assumed the identity of Robert Eugene Sullivan, a real teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and used his credentials to teach in the Inglewood Unified School District for a decade.

Many students who were enrolled in Wright’s class report that they were expelled from his class or received poor grades.

Nataya Jackson, a senior who had Wright for English at Morningside High School last year, said Wright gave her a D. She contested the grade but was unsuccessful. After hearing reports that he was not a credentialed teacher, she has decided to try again.

“I did all my homework and he told me I shouldn’t bother because I would get a D anyway,” said Nataya, who said she is a B student who is concerned about how colleges will view the lower grade. “He ruined my grade-point average.”

Many parents are angered that the man teaching their children was reportedly not a teacher. Nataya’s aunt was furious.

Gloria Jackson said she filed a complaint against Wright with the school district when her niece was suspended from class. She said Nataya was having an asthma attack, but Wright wouldn’t let her go to the nurse. She said two other students carried Nataya to the health room and all three were suspended from class for a week.

“I knew that something was wrong with him,” Jackson said. “Now I know I was right.”

Nash said the district will also try to reclaim the money that the district paid into Wright’s pension fund.

The same retirement account drew attention to the alleged scheme once the real Sullivan decided to retire. Officials at the state Teachers Retirement System noticed that there were two accounts for Robert Eugene Sullivan with the same identification numbers, and contacted the district.

The real Robert Sullivan has been forced to lead a frugal existence because Wright also allegedly used Sullivan’s Social Security number and other phony identification to build up unpaid credit card debt, evade taxes and declare bankruptcy. Sullivan said his goal now is to try to clear his name. On Tuesday, the U.S. Social Security Administration offered to help the embattled former teacher.