‘Circle of greed’: How a $1M scheme left hundreds of uncertified teachers in classrooms
(CNN) — Robert “Boo Lee” Williams was still seething days after a popular basketball coach and two assistant principals at Houston’s first two historically Black high schools were arrested in an alleged teacher certification scheme.
“It almost got me in tears, man,” said Williams, a 1967 graduate of Jack Yates Senior High School in the city’s predominantly Black Greater Third Ward neighborhood, told CNN Friday evening. “We are fighting hard to overcome, to show that we are more than qualified. … I’m just being straight up with you.”
Prosecutors say more than 200 people paid to have someone else take the state certification exam and now are scattered in classrooms across Texas. Local and state education officials are scrambling to track down the now-certified teachers who cheated.
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 scheme’s ringleader, along with Nicholas Newton, the school’s assistant principal and the alleged test taker who helped educators fraudulently pass hundreds of tests.
“The most important thing to me is the ringleaders have been identified and are being rooted out of our home school district … and the fact that they held positions of power there, where they were held in esteem by the children, is the very worst part of this crime,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters Monday.
“They didn’t deserve those kids’ respect and I think it leaves children feeling betrayed, not knowing who to trust.”
LaShonda Roberts, assistant principal at Yates, also was arrested for what Ogg said was her role as “a recruiter and referral agent who brought in many individuals who sought the services of the impersonator test taker.” Two other people not employed by the district also have been charged.
“The extent of the scheme will never be fully known but we know that at least 400 tests were taken and at least 200 teachers falsely certified,” Ogg said.
Prosecutors said all five defendants face two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity: One felony count based on money laundering because the scheme allegedly yielded over $300,000; and engaging in organized criminal activity based on tampering with a government document stemming from the false statements made when the tests were administered. They have yet to enter pleas.
Two other defendants not employed by the school district were identified as Darian Nikole Wilhite and Tywana Gilford Mason, who prosecutors said were proctors during the certification exams. CNN has sought comment from the attorney for Wilhite. Gilford Mason is in another state and has not been arrested, according to a spokesperson for the Harris County district attorney.
The Houston Independent School District, or HISD, with nearly 200,000 mostly Black and Hispanic students, is the largest in Texas and the eighth-largest in the country. Booker and Yates, respectively, were established as the city’s first two high schools for Black students prior to desegregation.
How the cheating scandal worked
Grayson, described by Ogg as the scheme’s “kingpin and organizer,” worked nearly 20 years at Booker T. Washington – which the HISD website said was originally known as “Colored High” when it opened in 1893. It was later renamed for the famous Black educator who helped found the Tuskegee Institute.
Grayson’s attorney, Cheryl Irvin, acknowledged the seriousness of the charges but said she awaits to see the evidence against her client. Grayson has been released on bond.
“We all know that a community struggles when the education system struggles,” she told CNN affiliate KHOU after a court appearance on Friday. CNN reached out to Irwin for comment.
“The state has the burden to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Grayson is presumed innocent at this period of time, and so we’ll wait and receive … what evidence they have against him to allow us to evaluate what we should do next,” she said.
Grayson was usually paid $2,500 by teaching certification candidates to have their exams taken by an impersonator at testing centers, where he paid proctors about 20% of that sum 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 cash as well here – which is harder to trace,” Mike Levine, felony chief prosecutor in the county’s public corruption division, told reporters.
Certification candidates would arrive at the testing center, sign in and leave, and “a few minutes later, Nicholas Newton, the proxy tester, would sit in their seat, take and pass the test,” Levine said.
At times, Levine said, Newton allegedly took more than one test at a time.
“In fact, when he was caught red-handed in February of 2024 he was logged into one test,” Levine said. “He said to investigators, ‘Well, look at the screen behind you,’ and he was logged in as a different person taking another test on another terminal that same day.”
Newton’s attorney, Feroz Merchant, declined comment on Friday, saying he has yet to see any evidence against his client. Newton was being held on bond.
Roberts’ lawyer, Brandon Leonard, called the charges “baseless” and said his client has “dedicated over a decade of her life to serving students and supporting teachers, often under challenging and high-pressure conditions.” She has been released on bond.
“In this country, every person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and so far, we’ve seen only allegations — no proof, no evidence. These accusations are simply unsubstantiated claims, and we will aggressively defend against these baseless charges. Ms. Roberts looks forward to her day in court, where we’re confident the truth will come to light,” he told CNN in a statement.
A pattern of long drives helps unravel scheme
The scheme began to unravel in 2023, when the Texas Education Agency “became aware of certain irregularities” at one Houston testing center, according to Levine.
A former coach in the district 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 in spite of the perpetrators being the type of people that we trust our kids with … it was actually a good Samaritan with a conscience that brought this scheme to light,” she said.
A curious pattern became immediately apparent: Investigators discovered that aspiring educators, including many who had failed the exams in other parts of Texas, were traveling for hours to a Houston center where Levine said they passed “with flying colors.”
“Often these people had previously failed one or more attempts at the certification exam. They then drove sometimes four or more hours to the Houston area and suddenly they were passing the test,” Levine said.
The HISD employees charged in the scheme have been placed on administrative leave. “All three of these employees have been arrested and will be receiving notifications relieving them of their duties effective immediately,” district spokesperson Alexandra Elizondo said in a statement.
“HISD was made aware of the investigation into an alleged cheating conspiracy shortly before arrests were made. Any educator who engages in conduct of this nature abdicates their responsibility to our students and to our staff and represents a complete betrayal of the public trust,” Elizondo said.
A scramble to find teachers who cheated
Now, local and state education officials are working to find the falsely certified teachers.
“If it is determined that any teachers currently working in HISD participated in this scheme or passed their certification exams fraudulently, 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 the TEA on their active investigation.”
“Maintaining valid, reliable assessments and public trust is paramount to us,” Pearson spokesperson Allison Bazin said in a statement. “We are committed to integrity in professional certification and licensure testing and actively monitor, investigate, and report suspicious activity or anomalies to our customers. When issues arise, we take decisive action, cooperating fully with customers and law enforcement as required.”
The Texas Education Agency in a statement said it will “review any and all information shared by law enforcement and pursue appropriate action against any educator involved in this scheme.” The State Board for Educator Certification “will make a final determination on possible sanctions,” according to the statement shared with KHOU.
“The fraudulently certified teachers run the gamut,” Levine said. “They’re not just in the Houston area. They’re not just in the Dallas area. They are literally littered throughout the state.”
The scheme dates to at least May 2020, according to prosecutors.
“Worse yet, the cheating teachers include at least two sexual predators who once falsely certified had access through their employment to underage kids on campus and off,” Ogg said. “One has been charged with indecency with a child, another with online solicitation … We only know of those two cases now but there could be others.”
Levine said some teachers were hired without passing certification exams but had to pass them within a year or two. In other instances, he said, positions such as teacher’s aides required the exams for promotions.
Investigators have interviewed dozens of teachers, and about 20 of them have cooperated and given near-identical versions of events, Levine said.
“Teachers and coaches who help influence children’s behavior, we count on them for their moral compass,” he said. “To think that this many people without what I would consider a proper moral compass were trying to educate and influence children all across the state is definitely troubling.”
Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson told KHOU: “Anybody who takes a route other than what’s legal or ethical, it’s very disappointing … It’s a concern because we have thousands of teachers who put in the time for study, who put in the work for the assessments and they pass.”
Williams, 76, the Yates High graduate, said he was shocked when he first heard news of the arrests involving staff at the predominantly Black schools that have long been a source of identity and pride for the city’s poorest and neediest students. Yates, founded in 1926, was named for a formerly enslaved man who became an influential minister in Houston.
Over the years, Williams said, Yates graduates have included journalist and broadcaster Roland Martin, actress Phylicia Rashad and her sister, the 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 ain’t 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 keep our history going on.”