By Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) – Robert “Boo Lee” Williams was still seething days after a popular basketball coach and two vice principals at Houston’s first two historically black high schools were arrested in an alleged teacher certification scheme.

“It almost brought me to tears, man,” Williams, a 1967 graduate of Jack Yates High School in the city’s predominantly Black Greater Third Ward, told CNN Friday night. “We are fighting hard to overcome, to show that we are more than qualified. … I’m just straight with you.”

And, prosecutors said, more than 200 people certified to teach paid to have someone else take the state certification exam are now scattered throughout Texas classrooms.

“The most important thing to me is that the leaders have been identified and are being removed from our home school district … and the fact that they were in positions of power where they were held in high esteem by the kids is the worst part. of this crime,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters Monday.

“They didn’t deserve the respect of those kids and I think it makes the kids feel betrayed, not knowing who to trust.”

The Houston Independent School District employees arrested were Vincent Grayson, a longtime teacher and head basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School described by prosecutors as the ringleader of the scheme, along with Nicholas Newton, the school’s assistant principal and alleged test taker who helped educators fraudulently pass hundreds of tests.

LaShonda Roberts, an assistant principal at Yates, was also arrested for what Ogg said was her role as a “recruiter and referral agent who brought in many applicants for the services of the arrival test taker.” Two other people not employed by the district were also charged.

“The extent of the scheme will never be fully known, but we do know that at least 400 tests were taken and at least 200 teachers were falsely certified,” Ogg said.

Prosecutors said all five defendants face two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity: one count of money laundering because the scheme allegedly netted more than $300,000; and engaging in organized criminal activity based on the falsification of a government document arising from false statements made when taking tests. They have not yet submitted applications.

Two other defendants who are not employed by the school district were identified as Darian Nikole Wilhite and Tywana Gilford Mason, who prosecutors said were prosecutors during the certification exams. CNN has requested comment from Wilhite’s attorney. Gilford Mason is in another state and has not been arrested, according to a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney.

HISD, with nearly 200,000 mostly black and Hispanic students, is the largest in Texas and the eighth largest in the nation. Booker and Yates, respectively, were established as the city’s first two high schools for black students before desegregation.

How the cheating scandal worked

Grayson, described by Ogg as the “principal and mastermind” of the scheme, worked for nearly 20 years at Booker T. Washington — which HISD’s website said was originally known as “Colored High” when it opened in 1893. Later it was renamed for the famous black Educator who helped found the Tuskegee Institute.

Grayson’s attorney, Cheryl Irvin, acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations but said she was waiting to see the evidence against her client. Grayson was released on bond.

“We all know that a community struggles when the education system struggles,” she told the CNN affiliate. KHOU after a court appearance Friday. CNN has reached out to Irwin for comment.

“The state has the burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Grayson is presumed innocent during this period of time, so we will wait and see … what evidence they have against him to allow us to assess what we should do next,” she said.

Grayson was typically paid $2,500 by having certification candidates take their exams by an impersonator at testing centers, where he would pay prosecutors about 20 percent of that amount to facilitate the cheating, prosecutors said.

Grayson allegedly made more than $1 million from the scheme.

“It’s almost certainly more than that because there’s also cash here – which is harder to prosecute,” Mike Levine, chief felony prosecutor in the county’s public corruption division, told reporters.

Certification candidates would arrive at the test center, sign in and leave, and “a few minutes later, Nicholas Newton, the proxy tester, would be sitting in their seat, taking and passing the test,” Levine said.

Sometimes, Levine said, Newton would take more than one test at a time.

“In fact, when he was caught red-handed in February 2024, he was connected to only one test,” Levine said. “He said to the investigators, ‘Well, look at the screen behind you,’ and he was logged in as a different person, taking a different test on a different terminal on the same day.”

Newton’s attorney, Feroz Merchant, declined to comment Friday, saying he had yet to see any evidence against his client. Newton was being held on bail.

Roberts’ attorney, Brandon Leonard, called the allegations “baseless” and said his client “has dedicated over a decade of her life to serving students and supporting faculty, often under challenging and high-pressure conditions.” She was released on bail.

“In this country, every person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and so far we have only seen accusations – no evidence, no proof. These allegations are simply unsubstantiated claims and we will aggressively defend against these baseless allegations. Ms. Roberts looks forward to her day in court, where we are confident the truth will come out,” he told CNN in a statement.

A pattern of long runs helps unravel the scheme

The scheme began to unravel in 2023, when the Texas Education Agency “became aware of certain irregularities” at a testing center in Houston, according to Levine.

A former district coach who was applying for a job as a police officer in another part of the state had what Ogg called “an attack of conscience” and notified the education agency.

“The most interesting irony to me in this circle of greed is that despite the fact that the perpetrators are the kind of people we would trust with our children…it was actually a Good Samaritan with a conscience who exposed this scheme” , she said. .

A curious pattern became immediately apparent: Investigators found that aspiring educators, including many who had failed exams in other parts of Texas, were traveling for hours to a center in Houston, where Levine said they passed “with flying colors.”

“Often these people have previously failed one or more attempts at the certification exam. Then they would drive sometimes four or more hours to the Houston area and all of a sudden they were passing the test,” Levine said.

Systemwide HISD employees have been placed on administrative leave. “All three of these employees have been arrested and will receive notices relieving them of their duties effective immediately,” district spokeswoman Alexandra Elizondo said in a statement.

“HISD was made aware of the investigation into an alleged conspiracy to defraud shortly before arrests were made. Any educator who engages in behavior of this nature abdicates their responsibility to our students and our staff and is a complete betrayal of the public trust,” Elizondo said.

A fight to find teachers who cheated

Now, state and local education officials are scrambling to track down teachers who cheated on their certification exams.

“If it is determined that any teachers currently working in HISD participated in this scheme or fraudulently passed their certification exams, we will take swift action to terminate their employment,” Elizondo said.

Pearson VUE, a vendor that develops the teacher licensure exam for the state education agency, said it continues to “coordinate with TEA in their active investigation.”

“Maintaining valid, reliable ratings and public trust is critical to us,” Pearson spokeswoman Allison Bazin said in a statement. “We are committed to integrity in professional certification and licensure testing, and we actively monitor, investigate and report suspicious activity or anomalies to our clients. When problems arise, we take decisive action, cooperating fully with customers and law enforcement as necessary.”

The Texas Education Agency said in a statement that it “will review any and all information shared by law enforcement and take appropriate action against any educator involved in this scheme.” The State Board for Educator Certification “will make a final decision regarding possible sanctions,” according to statement shared with KHOU.

“Fraudulently licensed teachers have a wide range,” Levine said. “They’re not just in the Houston area. They’re not just in the Dallas area. They are literally scattered all over the state.”

The scheme dates back to at least May 2020, according to prosecutors.

“Worse still, the cheating professors include at least two sexual predators who once falsely certified gained access through their employment to underage children on and off campus,” Ogg said. “One was charged with indecency with a child, another with online solicitation… We only know about these two cases now, but there could be more.”

Levine said some teachers were hired without passing their certification exams, but had to pass them within a year or two. In other cases, he said, positions such as teaching assistants required exams for promotion.

Investigators interviewed dozens of teachers, and about 20 of them cooperated and gave nearly identical versions of events, Levine said.

“Teachers and coaches who help influence kids’ behavior, we rely on them for their moral compass,” he said. “It’s certainly troubling to think that so many people, without what I would consider a proper moral compass, are trying to educate and influence children across the country.”

Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson said KHOU: “Anyone who takes a path other than legal or ethical is very disappointing… It’s a concern because we have thousands of teachers who put in the time to study, who put in the work for assessments and pass.”

Williams, 76, a graduate of Yates High School, said he was shocked when he first heard the news of the arrests involving staff at the predominantly black schools, which have long been a source of identity and pride for the most poor and needy of the city. Yates, founded in 1926it was named after a former slave man who became an influential minister in Houston.

Over the years, Williams said, Yates alumni have included journalist and broadcaster Roland Martin, actress Phylicia Rashad and her sister, choreographer Debbie Allen, as well as numerous city leaders and professional athletes. Williams also helps administer a Facebook page dedicated to Booker T. Washington High School.

“This is not just a black school in Houston. This is the oldest black school in the state of Texas now. This is history,” he said of Booker T. Washington High School. “We need people to carry our history forward.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the CNN affiliate who interviewed Vincent Grayson’s attorney, Cheryl Irvin. It was KHOU.

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