APS Superintendent Erroll Davis announced that an internal APS investigation had concluded that 14 players on Grady’s football team and their families used false addresses in order to attend Grady. Thirteen other football players remain under investigation. Davis announced the findings at a community meeting in the Grady theater on March 5 and later released personnel changes among Grady employees and coaches.

“I am stunningly amazed by the inappropriate behavior of adults involved in this situation,” Davis said to members of the Grady community. “In many instances there was a failure, and, once again, young people get to pay the price.”

FRAUDULENT FINDINGS

A document review was conducted for each of the 58 student athletes on the football team. Investigators reviewed student permanent record folders, proof of residency documents, enrollment history, attendance reports, returned mail, address history, athletic certification and property and tax records. At first, the review was limited to the enrollment records of the 21 students identified in the anonymous complaint.

“This is quite frankly disturbing—the lengths that parents went to falsify documents, signed affidavits,” Davis said. “… You had to be impressed, unfortunately, with the masterful job of forgeries and fake documents.”

According to the published report of the investigation findings, of the 21 named students 11 were verified as having committed address fraud. Five students named in the complaint are still being investigated. A review of the enrollment records of players not named specifically in the complaint found three to be guilty of address fraud.

Among the 14 found guilty of fraudulent enrollment, four students were previously zoned for Westlake High School, a member of the Fulton County School System. The report said that investigators also found that several of these 14 students used the addresses of their grandparents, aunts and uncles, “godparents” and other relatives but did not actually reside at the address they supplied. Most of the parents found guilty of document fraud falsified leases and power/cable bills. Ten parents admitted to committing address fraud or falsifying documents. Three different students’ parents claimed they falsified enrollment documents because they were homeless during the school year.

Davis said that of the 14 students found to be out of district, some voluntarily withdrew from Grady, while others were asked to withdraw. A few parents moved into the Grady attendance zone shortly after or in the midst of the investigation. Davis also said that the students who were found to have lived outside the City of Atlanta were sent tuition bills for the time that they attended Grady. The superintendent said the district is weighing possible civil as well as criminal actions against parents who submitted fraudulent documents.

RECRUITMENT INVESTIGATION “INCONCLUSIVE”

The investigation did not find conclusive evidence of athletic recruiting. Despite this conclusion, both Davis in his March 5 press conference and APS athletic director Jeff Beggs in an interview with investigators said that the low number of players from Grady’s feeder school, Inman Middle, should have raised questions.

Davis said that a third of the players on the football team came from Inman. Beggs said that six or seven of the football players came from Inman. Despite the contradiction, both Davis and Beggs agreed that the low number should have prompted concern.

EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

In addition to Davis’s public condemnation of the parents guilty of address fraud, Davis also said he was shocked by the extent of APS employee involvement.

An assistant coach to the football team supplied APS with two different addresses to enroll his children at Young Middle School and Grady. The investigation concluded that the coach committed address fraud and both of his children have withdrawn from their respective schools.

“That disappoints me very much,” Davis said, “because we worked over the last three years very hard to make sure that we establish an atmosphere where people understood that unethical violations would not be tolerated.”

The address the assistant coach used to enroll his son at Grady was the same address used by six other football players. In an interview with investigators, the assistant coach denied knowing that six other players were using that address. According to the investigation report, the property owner of the house was a retired Grady coach.

According to the investigation report the retired Grady coach’s wife explained that there were multiple leases with the same address because of an error on the lease, and the other students resided in another apartment. A review of enrollment data, however, showed that all six players used the same apartment number in their enrollment documents.

Beggs told investigators that athlete verification, including a review of residency and transcripts, is a job that should be completed by the athletic director of each high school. Grady’s athletic director is Kathleen Washington.

“Ms. Washington indicated that she did not verify any student information,” the investigation report said. “She obtains the information from the registrar and submits the packet to GHSA [Georgia High School Association].”

In interviews with investigators, both Millen and Washington claimed they had no knowledge of any students on the team living out of district.

Also outlined in the report of the investigation was how APS dean of student discipline Chantell Mullen provided a copy of the anonymous complaint to Beggs on Nov. 11. Mullen instructed Beggs not to provide the complaint or any specific details of the complaint to the Grady football coaches when he met with them on Nov. 14. Beggs met with the coaches to ask them about their knowledge of football players living out of district or of any possible recruitment. Within days of the meeting, however, some parents of football players living out of the district began moving inside of the Grady district, according to the investigation report.

The report noted that a parent told investigators that Millen had given a copy of the complaint to multiple parents and told them to “get their affairs in order.” Beggs, however, denied giving Millen the complaint. APS received a letter from Millen’s attorney stating that Beggs had given Millen the anonymous complaint. In a second interview, Beggs admitted that he had in fact given the complaint to Millen.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE INVESTIGATION

Ralph Swearingtin, executive director of GHSA, sent a letter to Principal Vincent Murray outlining the penalties for violations of eligibility regulations on the football team. According to a March 18 APS press release, Grady must forfeit all victories in the 2013 season because GHSA found that ineligible students played in all of the games that the team won. Another penalty is a $1,000 fine for “a lack of administrative oversight in regards to the large-scale irregularities.” GHSA placed the team on probation for next season,  so it will be ineligible for playoffs but will play in the regular season. These penalties also rule out Millen’s 100th win against North Clayton on Sept. 6.

Superintendent Davis announced on March 21 that Grady will have a new football coach and athletic director for the 2014-15 school year. Grady alumnus and former NFL player Earthwind C. Moreland has been assigned as interim physical education teacher and football coach.

“I do believe in winning, I do believe in competition, but I strongly believe in winning with integrity,” Davis said.