The Tennessee Department of Education is investigating an apparent breakdown in the Hamilton County school system that allowed an uncertified teacher's aide without a bachelor's degree to teach upper-level high school math courses.
The announcement comes the day after Signal Mountain Middle-High School principal Eddie Gravitte was suspended with pay for allowing teacher's assistant Wes Greene to teach algebra, algebra II and trigonometry with nothing more than a high school diploma.
Mr. Gravitte also is accused of falsifying documents to the state, school officials said.
Former Hixson High principal Tom McCullough is serving as the middle-high school's interim principal. Dr. McCullough most recently was the headmaster at David Brainerd School, which closed for financial reasons this summer.
Parents who attended a meeting at the school Tuesday evening said they were told that students who took algebra I and II from Mr. Greene would not be in jeopardy of losing those credits. But the credits for students who took advanced algebra/trigonometry from Mr. Greene still are being evaluated, they said.
Mr. Greene resigned from Hamilton County Schools in July after being indicted on drug charges. He is the son of Robert W. Greene, the deputy Tennessee education commissioner.
To avoid any appearance of impropriety, state Education Commissioner Timothy Webb asked his department's director of audits to conduct interviews and go through paperwork in Hamilton County "as soon as possible," department spokeswoman Rachel Woods said.
"We pulled no strings whatsoever, but because there is a relationship to the department (through Robert Greene) ... Dr. Webb has asked an auditor to do a full investigation on Hamilton County and make a full report to the commissioner," she said. "We don't know how many students are involved, what exactly happened."
Apparently no one at the local level knew what was going on, either. School administrators say they thought Mr. Greene was an educational assistant, earning about $13,000 per year.
Ms. Woods said Mr. Gravitte either must have listed Mr. Greene's classes under another teacher of record or did not list the classes at all when sending reports to the state.
Superintendent Jim Scales said that Lisa Huskey, the assistant principal in charge of the middle school, interviewed Mr. Greene last year and recommended to Mr. Gravitte that he be hired to assist with Signal Mountain's math program.
Because Mr. Greene was to be hired as an educational assistant -- a position that requires neither a bachelor's degree nor teaching credentials -- no one in the central office ever checked whether he was certified, Dr. Scales said.
Some staff members at Signal Mountain have said Mr. Gravitte desperately needed a math teacher and received no help from the central office in finding one, effectively forcing him to hire the unqualified Mr. Greene.
Dr. Scales said he has heard similar complaints, but that they hold no weight.
"Mr. Gravitte was given a year to put that school together and was given what we felt like was an adequate amount of staffing positions," he said.
Before Mr. Greene was hired, Dr. Scales said, Deputy Commissioner Greene called the superintendent to see if there was any way the district could help out his son. But Dr. Scales said there was no pressure on the school system to do so.
In December, even though Mr. Greene had not yet earned his bachelor's degree and certification like he'd said he planned to, Mr. Gravitte allowed the assistant to teach math classes as a full teacher, Dr. Scales said.
Although then-area superintendent Don Beard approved hiring Mr. Greene for the 2008-2009 school year, Mr. Gravitte was the only administrator to know the uncertified employee was teaching classes, Dr. Scales said.
"To my knowledge, (Mr. Gravitte) was never given approval (to make Mr. Greene) a teacher," Dr. Scales said. "Mr. Gravitte is the principal of the school, and he made the assignment."
Mr. Gravitte, who said he was "pretty stunned and disappointed" by the suspension, plans to request an appeals hearing. Because of the pending hearing, he did not want to comment further on the situation, he said.
"I appreciate all the support from the faculty, students, parents and community of Signal Mountain," he said. "I wish them great success and continued success in the future."
Schools spokeswoman Danielle Clark said administrators are seeking an assistant principal position for Mr. Gravitte, whose salary last year was about $89,000, documents show.
MEIGS COUNTY
Wes Greene previously taught as an educational assistant, or "paraprofessional," for middle and high school math classes in Meigs County, officials there confirmed. Meigs Schools Director Don Roberts said Mr. Greene's certification never came into question because he was never employed as a teacher. Mr. Greene resigned from Meigs County after the 2008 school year to take the job in Hamilton County, which was closer to his home, Mr. Roberts said.
"I can honestly say that the time Wes worked for us ... he did an outstanding job for us," he said.
Mr. Greene's father, Robert W. Greene, is a former Meigs County director of schools who now serves as the deputy commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Education
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
Anyone that thinks Gravitte did this on his own, has lost their mind. This is a case of lets use him for a fall guy. How many people work in Hamilton County Schools Human Resource Office? Now what are their job duties? O by the way, let us not forget the area Superintendent? Now what does he get paid and to oversee what? Lastly,Do not forget who Green's father is? I am not saying Gravitte did right.But he is not along in this.
totally agree. He was not alone in this at all.
"To my knowledge, (Mr. Gravitte) was never given approval (to make Mr. Greene) a teacher," Dr. Scales said. "Mr. Gravitte is the principal of the school, and he made the assignment."
Mr.Gravitte has demonstrated a lack of disregard for the rules and regulations of the Hamilton County School System. Why is he still employed?
I have two children who attend SMMHS and I have dealt enough with the administration in that school to know how things work. In all essence Mr Gravitte cheated the system by submitting a false report to the state and last time I checked "cheating" was a pretty big deal in Hamilton County schools. If this were a child they would face suspension or possible expulsion for such a thing, God knows they will suspend them for anything! So, if the punishment would be so harsh for our children, why are we still paying Mr Gravitte? He should be asked to resign and walk away.
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