Two Clinton High School teachers fired after grade manipulation investigation

ANDERSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — Two Anderson County teachers have been fired following an investigation into grade manipulation .

Rachel Jones and Clay Turpin were fired following a unanimous vote by the Anderson County Schools Board of Education on Monday, May 13. They were fired for unprofessional conduct insubordination and neglect of duty according to the charges of dismissal shared with WATE.

Jones was hired in 2011 to be a teacher at Clinton High School, and in 2021, Turpin was hired to teach at CHS. Both teachers were under the supervision of former CHS Principal Dan Jenkins, who resigned in April 2024 .

According to the charges of dismissal, Director of Schools Tim Parrot discovered issues at CHS during the 2023-24 school year, prompting an investigation in the spring semester. As a result, the school system reported several concerns to the Tennessee Department of Education on March 25. These concerns included multiple students appearing on track to graduate despite missing important course requirements. Additionally, the administration believed that some students who graduated the previous year never took the end-of-year testing.

On April 12, Parrott sent a letter to Jenkins and Jones, who was the teacher primarily assigned to credit recovery students, on suspension. In the charges of dismissal, Parrott wrote that Jones accepted her suspension while Jenkins decided to resign.

The investigation and the concerns stemming from it were then given to District Attorney Dave Clark, who reportedly called for a criminal investigation. Parrott shared that once given the green light by law enforcement, he along with other administrative staff began conducting interviews of Jones, Turpin and others.

During Jones’ interview, she shared that in January 2023, a school counselor reportedly asked her to enroll a student in virtual courses. According to Parrott, data showed the student had completed five courses in eight days. Jones said in the interview that Jenkins wanted her to change grades to get the student out of school. Jones also stated she changed other grades “here and there” to improve Clinton’s graduation rate at the call of Jenkins.

When asked how long the grade changing had been going on she reportedly said “Pretty much the whole time that Dan was principal.” According to the charges of dismissal, Jones said that during the 2023-24 school year, she told Jenkins that she would not do it anymore and that’s when he got Turpin to take over credit recovery.

Turpin said in his interview he taught credit recovery but was not trained. An online data report showed Turpin had changed over 1,000 grades within four months according to the Parrott. He reportedly said that the school counselor advised him to do it. Turpin added that he was told his role was to get the students done as soon as possible and get them out of school which could be done if students had above 60 percent in the class.

He went on to say that other teachers and administrators knew what was going on and were changing grades as well. It was under Turpin’s impression that the former principal wanted to get the “bad kids out.”

In April 2024, Clinton High School Assistant Principal Amanda Powers was appointed to serve as the school’s Interim head principal by Parrott.

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