Midlands superintendent feared school board would ‘dismiss’ troubling grade audit
The now-former superintendent of the Lexington 2 school district encouraged the state Education Department to get more involved in a high school flagged for grading problems, expressing skepticism that his office could change the situation shortly before he quit his job.
Nicholas Wade sent an email to state officials auditing Brookland-Cayce High School the same day the Lexington 2 school board met to accept his resignation after only a year in the job. Wade said state intervention was necessary because “the district office feels uncomfortable at moving forward on their own because of the connections of the administration at Brookland-Cayce High School.”
In another email, Laura McNair, the academic accountability specialist overseeing the state Education Department’s audit, summarized a meeting she had with Wade a week before he left the district.
“During the meeting, Dr. Wade relayed to me that he has a very narrow window of time in which to hold BCHS accountable for their actions before the Board of Trustees dismissed the findings,” McNair wrote. “Dr. Wade is urging the agency to hold BCHS accountable and to audit the district this year for accreditation purposes. He needs for the Board of Trustees and BCHS to realizes (sic) these issues are severe and should not be taken lightly.”
The emails were released to The State by the S.C. Department of Education under the Freedom of Information Act.
Barry Bolen, the former Lexington 2 superintendent named as Wade’s interim replacement, said he couldn’t speak to what led to Wade’s concerns, but said the district is proactively working now to address the issues identified in the Education Department’s audit report.
”I can’t respond to what anybody else says, but our current school board expects me to follow state law and policies,” Bolen said. “It’s pretty obvious to me once we get the facts out, whether it violates policy, stretches something, or is just careless. But they expect everything to be done according to the policy and the guidelines.”
In an email to The State, Lexington 2 board chair Christina Rucker said the district will “schedule a special called meeting in the very near future to hear from Mr. Bolen regarding this matter and any recommendations he has moving forward.”
Bolen said he had already met with staff at Airport High School about the audit results, where the discrepancies identified by the audit were addressed, and he will hold a similar meeting with Brookland-Cayce staff this week.
“Once we have all the facts and information, we will take corrective action,” Bolen said. “In fact, that’s part of the directive from the state department, to develop a corrective action plan, but it’s premature to say what might or might not happen.”
An audit by the education department of the past two school years’ graduating classes revealed several cases of students who received diplomas without earning the necessary credits to graduate. The audit flagged gaps or failings in graduating students’ course history and raised questions about whether summer course recovery classes were being used appropriately. Brookland-Cayce had its accreditation dropped down a level for the year because of the issues raised in the audit.
Airport High School’s accreditation was not changed.
Prior to the results of the audit being made publicly available, Wade resigned as Lexington 2’s superintendent in May after one school year in charge of the district. His email to the department was sent May 11, the same day the school board met to accept Wade’s resignation and name Bolen as the temporary replacement for the rest of the school year. The school district agreed to pay Wade $240,000 to release him from his contract early, and he subsequently used the rest of his time off for the remainder of the school year.
In his same email to the Education Department, Wade expressed optimism that appropriate changes could be made to address similar issues at Airport High School, Lexington 2’s other high school.
“However, there have been constant conversations with the administration at Brookland-Cayce High School about transcripts, registration, credit recovery, and grade book changes (even expressed by their staff as a concern as they are allegedly changed by administration and counselors) where it would strongly suggest it is more of a conscious effort,” the superintendent wrote.
Bolen said he expects many of the issues identified were the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many classes suddenly shifted online. Many educators may have been unclear what the standards were under those circumstances, while it became more difficult to enforce attendance remotely or get classwork completed in a timely manner.
“The rules aren’t as clear as they would have been in normal times,” Bolen said. “Not to make excuses, but that’s something to work through, with the return to in-person learning, whether it’s the result of negligence or human error.”
Wade’s emails to the Education Department make it clear he wanted the department to provide a comprehensive overview of the grading issues in the district. On Nov. 11, he responded to department requests for transcripts on a student whose diploma the department had questioned and suggested the department look at other documents as well.
“I will be reaching out tomorrow for some additional information/clarification, but I did want to ask a potentially ignorant question prior to that conversation,” Wade wrote. “The request is only asking for transcripts. With the items of concern listed, it would seem the Department of Education would also need to be in need of attendance records as well. Please let me know if that is required, so we can provide you with everything you need for a thorough audit.”
The audit ultimately determined some students did not attend enough classes to receive a final grade or participate in credit recovery for necessary courses.
On April 30, after apparently not hearing from the Education Department on the issue for a while, Wade reached out again to volunteer the results of the district’s own audit of its grading practices.
“We have not heard much from the department about this matter, but in the meantime I commissioned an independent auditor to review the transcripts, gradebooks, and attendance going back to the 2017-18 school year for both high schools,” Wade wrote. “I would very much like to have a discussion with you about where the department is at, but also what was discovered in our own review.”
In its audit report, the department said it is still reviewing those outside audit results, covering a longer time period than the department’s review, to determine if further action is warranted. Bolen told The State he had not yet reviewed the outside auditor’s report.
Wade summarized those findings in his final email to the department.
“The external auditor identified dozens of issues with Brookland-Cayce High School in awarding diplomas where there were either no recorded grades, not enough earned credits, or an improper sequence,” he said. “The auditor also discovered a significant number of grade changes and students receiving credit after having excessive attendance issues. The auditor felt a more in depth look into these matters, with a far larger team than one (1), would be needed to fully understand both the scope and to determine what actions were intentional, an oversight, or just incompetence.”
Wade adds that the district office is “very concerned about what is (or is not) transpiring in credit recovery courses.
“I communicated that the district office believes there are significant issues at play that require further investigation and possible oversight from the Department of Education,” Wade said of his meeting with McNair. “I also communicated how the district office feels uncomfortable at moving forward on their own because of the connections of the administration at Brookland-Cayce High School.”
He invited further response from the Education Department, but adds that “I am unable to, at this point, send anything to the Department of Education moving forward.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 2:34 PM.
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