Students and parents are just starting to deal with the consequences from two Vero Beach High School teachers accused of helping students cheat to increase their performance-based pay.
Now the superintendent who wants both teachers be fired.
The tests in question were industry certification tests, which certifies a student for a skill at the end of a course. Those certificates earned under those two teachers last year and this year will now be invalid.
Word is still spreading here at Vero Beach High School that two teachers may be out of a job. And about 400 students may be impacted by their actions.
“We were talking about it this morning and we were hoping no body got invalidated because we worked really hard in that class,” said student Ashton Bono.
Teachers Ralph Vaughn and Alison Moody are accused of cheating to help their students pass industry certification tests.
They’re accused of showing students the computerized tests questions on multiple occasions.
Now, the students who took those tests either last school year or this school year will lose those certificates.
“I was 2014-2015, so think I got out of it,” said Bono.
While this likely wont impact Ashton’s certificate, the 11th grader says Mr. Vaughn was a good teacher.
“He was a good teacher, a pretty good teacher, one of my favorites. One of my favorite freshman classes.”
Another major concern for the students who were impacted, this may jeopardize their math credits. The district says this will cause about 300 students to lose a math waiver, which can count as a math credit.
Fortunately, the district says, no current or previous diplomas were impacted.
Both teachers have indicated that they plan to appeal the superintendent’s recommendation. This is on the agenda for the next school board meeting on February 6.