CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina's top educator called for a statewide investigation of questionable diplomas after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools educators said they witnessed abuse of an online learning program just days before graduation last school year.
"I'm glad there's an internal one being done by the school system. We will be following that closely, but I think this is something that has been going on for too long and it's an area where the state probably needs to step in and do its own investigation," NC Superintendent of Public Instruction and former West Charlotte High School teacher Mark Johnson said.
While most high school seniors earn their diplomas, educators said failing seniors who had no business graduating, still received diplomas by logging on to a computer at the very last minute, all in the name of improving a school's graduation rate.
"It's not fair to those kids that work really hard," a Butler High School educator said. "I had at least four that walked across that stage that did not pass my class. By saying this, you're saying what we do in the classroom doesn't matter."
District records show, under the school's previous leadership, Butler High students enrolled in a dozen online credit recovery classes during the last two weeks of school in 2019.
"I know that it was abused and I know that this is not the first time," the educator said. "I know that teachers have been complaining about this credit recovery program to administrators, not just at my school, but across the district. Take some culpability. There's no way that they didn't know this was going on because teachers have complained about this for a long time."
Our investigation identified similar concerns at South Mecklenburg High School and East Mecklenburg High School, as well as at least three other unnamed high schools.
CMS Deputy Superintendent Dr. Matthew Hayes previously said the district will look into specific allegations of wrongdoing, but defended credit recovery. He said CMS has improved the program's integrity.
"I feel like we have a lot of checks and balances in place," Dr. Hayes said. "Our students, when they get a diploma from us, it has to be worth the paper it's written on."
Johnson said he is going to request a statewide investigation when the North Carolina State Board of Education meets next week in Raleigh.
"This is something the State Board of Education is going to have to weigh in on," he said. "For far too long, education leaders in Raleigh haven't responded to teachers."
CMS continues to ask teachers with concerns to reach out to administrators.
"The district has made it clear, the issues of the past are the reason for the policy and regulation changes," CMS Executive Director of Communications Renee McCoy said. "We are aware of the past concerns which is why we made changes to the credit recovery program going forward and will continue to make necessary improvements to ensure student success."
CMS has already started an internal review as well.