Nearly 50 public school teachers from the Houston area were named by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for allegedly obtaining fraudulent teacher certifications as part of a widespread scheme that originated in Houston.
Vincent Grayson, the basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School, along with Washington assistant principal Nicholas Newton and Yates High School assistant principal LaShonda Roberts, were arrested in October and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. According to court documents from Harris County, they are accused of orchestrating the cheating ring in which teachers paid thousands of dollars for someone else to take the certification exam on their behalf.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg confirmed that more than 200 teachers statewide were suspected of obtaining fraudulent certifications through this scheme. On Wednesday, the TEA released a list of over 100 teachers currently under investigation for their potential involvement.
“TEA fully expects additional investigations to be opened as the agency continues to gather information,” said a TEA spokesperson in an email.
The list includes teachers who have worked or are currently employed, in districts such as Alvin ISD, Conroe ISD, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Galena Park ISD, Houston ISD, Katy ISD, Pearland ISD, Spring ISD and Spring Branch ISD. Among the names, 15 individuals are linked to Houston ISD, including Grayson, Newton and Roberts.
“It’s unfortunate that a small group of individuals, among HISD’s more than 10,000 dedicated educators, allegedly attempted to cheat the system and undermine the trust of Houston’s students,” the school district stated. “All individuals involved have been removed from their positions and reassigned pending the outcome of the state’s investigation.”
According to TEA, the districts associated with these educators do not mean that it’s their current place of employment but are based on their place of employment at the end of either the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school year.
The investigations, which are separate from the criminal prosecutions of five people tied to the cheating ring, could result in teachers getting their Texas educator license revoked.
The update comes after the Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced in late October that it had charged five people, including three HISD employees, in connection with a years-long scheme to help teachers across the state fraudulently obtain teaching certificates.
TEA says it fully expects additional investigations to be opened as the agency receives more information.
Below is the list of teachers being investigated by the TEA, along with the school district where they were employed at the end of either the 2022-23 or 2023-24 school year.
Xavier Adams, Mansfield ISD
Kwabena Agyei, Katy ISD
Mecca Allah, Spring ISD
Marion Baxter, Mesquite ISD
Jermaine Beal, Waxahachie ISD
Destiny Bowman-Smith, Fort Worth ISD
Shayla Bragg, Arlington ISD
Billy Brewer, New Boston ISD
April Brown, Fort Bend ISD
Armani Callihan, Port Arthur ISD
Randel Clark, Linden-Kildare CISD
Jefferson Collins, Alvin ISD
Vivian Cook, Fort Bend ISD
Markel Cooks, Irving ISD
Dwain Crawford, Richardson ISD
Allison Dawson, Spring ISD
Tieranny Decuir, Port Arthur ISD
Jakari Dillard, Princeton ISD
Jeremiah Din, Dallas ISD
Corey Douglas, Lancaster ISD
Aaron Durley, Fort Bend ISD
Nehandra Edwards, Alvin ISD
Sterling Finney, Spring ISD
Karrington Ford, Irving ISD
Fred Galloway, Houston ISD
Michael Garrett, Alvin ISD
Autumn Glass-Hammond, Spring Branch ISD
Jason Goss, Dallas ISD
Ernest Grant, Houston ISD
Xavier Gray, Harris County Department of Education
Vincent Grayson, Houston ISD
Arthur Green, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
Dnarius Green, Crowley ISD
Charlotte Green-Allison, Port Arthur ISD
Rodney Hampton, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
Brandon Hargers, Palestine ISD
Alexcia Harris, Houston ISD
Janea Heath, Dallas ISD
Gerrod Henderson, Houston ISD
Caleb Hendrix, Everman ISD
Charles Preston Hill, Duncanville ISD
Jerome Hill, Houston ISD
Hanna Hogan, Fort Worth ISD
Devan Hollins, Richardson ISD
Quintin Johnson, Port Arthur ISD
Tiffany Johnson, Houston ISD
Taneadra Jones, Duncanville ISD
Antorio Kelly, Garland ISD
Danyelle Kendricks, Houston ISD
Simone Key, Duncanville ISD
Arthur Lockett, Houston ISD
Jeffrey Luster, Duncanville ISD
Taylor Luster, Mineral Wells ISD
Johnnie Mack, Galena Park ISD
Dayon Mallet, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD
Germia Malone, DeSoto ISD
Brandon Manning, Alvin ISD
Money Martin, Arlington ISD
Antonio Mauldin, Dallas ISD
Keisha Mayes, Duncanville ISD
Calandra McAfee, Katy ISD
LaToya Moore, Duncanville ISD
Edwin Nelson, Port Arthur ISD
Nicholas Newton, Houston ISD
Tristan Nolan, Beaumont ISD
Toye Oglesby, Pearland ISD
Jazzmen Ortiz, Temple ISD
Shameika Osborne, Mansfield ISD
Charles Peterson, Houston ISD
Mark Politte, Houston ISD
Nyzhe Primas, Dallas ISD
Roald Raymond, Chapel Hill ISD
Dominique Reagor, Fort Worth ISD
Sheba Regan-Waterford, Fort Worth ISD
LaShonda Roberts, Houston ISD
Nikia Robinson, Madisonville ISD
Jordan Rogers, Dallas ISD
Gabriel Samuels, Duncanville ISD
Isaiah Santos, Princeton ISD
Perry Selvage, Conroe ISD
Latisha Session, Houston ISD
Omar Sneed, Hardin-Jefferson ISD
Darrea Spears, Lancaster ISD
Tahj Spillman, Dallas ISD
Terrion Spivey, Cedar Hill ISD
Marcus Swift, Waxahachie ISD
Tavares Thomas, Fort Bend ISD
Cairo Thornton, Dallas ISD
Alford Tribble Jr., Duncanville ISD
Yamille Valenzuela, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
Reuben Vaughn, Fort Worth ISD
Jordan Versey, Arlington ISD
Chason Virgil, Mesquite ISD
Thomas Washington, Dallas ISD
Earl Westbrooks, Houston ISD
Daphney White, Alvin ISD
JaQuan White, Red Oak ISD
Cathy Whiting, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
Jeremiah Williams, Allen ISD
Kawonda Williams, International Leadership of Texas
Tanisha Wright, Beaumont ISD
