New Rochelle mum on grading investigation as graduation nears

As New Rochelle High School's graduation looms, school district officials remained silent on an investigation into allegations of senior grade inflation.

With 48 hours to go before the Class of 2018 walks across the stage, the district on Tuesday declined to comment on the status of the investigation — except to confirm that it is ongoing, which, a statement said, was why officials couldn't elaborate — and whether any students were found to be ineligible for credits given through an online program.

Schools Superintendent Brian Osborne said nearly four weeks ago that he directed T&M Protection Resources, the investigative firm hired to look into the impropriety accusations, to first examine this year's seniors ahead of graduation.

“I’ve communicated that it’s very critical to ensure that the first order of business is this year’s graduates are all properly verified,” Osborne said in May.

The 10,000-plus student school system launched a probe into its online credit recovery program May 23 after documents obtained by The Journal News/lohud appeared to show some students from the Class of 2016 receiving perfect scores for shoddy work, including one student's final grade being signed off on by school officials on the day of graduation two years ago.

When presented with the documents in May, high school Principal Reginald Richardson said he would be able to easily produce the work that supported the grades received, but hours later an investigation was announced and no records were provided.

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About 60 seniors are using the online credit recovery program right now, Richardson said in May. Online credit recovery is typically reserved for seniors in need of making up credits for graduation in courses they failed.

The second priority, Osborne said, would be to examine grades given to students who participated in the online credit recovery program from years past. The program was launched in 2014.

The investigation would likely require T&M Protection Resources to access documents and archives related to Apex, the vendor for the program used in New Rochelle, and include interviews with high school staff, Osborne said last month.

Questions remain about whether current or previous students received falsified grades, how the investigation was conducted, who in the high school was spoken to, and what documents, computers, servers or other materials were accessed to uncover information.

One previous statement has been made by the district regarding T&M's work, which said the independent investigator is not looking into anyone suspected of leaking the documents to the media. This contradicted a letter penned by Richardson to the high school staff that said the firm would, in part, "address the theft and unauthorized distribution of student records.”

No further explanation was provided by the district to account for the conflicting comments.