Allegations of grade tampering or an unfair grading scale at Krum Independent School District spurred an audit of the district's grading policies.
The findings of that audit were revealed Thursday night in a special meeting with the board of trustees and the Region 11 Education Services Center that manages the district's information.
In a presentation in front of about 100 parents and students, the Education Services Center released its conclusion from the scope of its investigation -- dating from the 2016 graduating class to present. The center said, aside from some wording inconsistencies in different print publications for the school, the only mathematical issue they found was with the 2016 graduating class.
The center said the grade point averags for that class were calculated incorrectly. At some point, the error was noticed and the GPAs were calculated correctly, but someone manually entered those corrected numbers in the wrong column in a grading spreadsheet.
The center said even though that mistake was made, it did not change the outcome of the valedictorian or salutatorian for that year.
Furthermore, the investigation found the only people this issue affected were students ranked ninth and 10th in the Class of 2016. Their positions should have been flipped.
Board of trustees members asked questions at the end of the presentation.
They made it clear that this particular investigation had nothing to do with former Krum High School Assistant Principal Bernard Lightfoot. Lightfoot and the board mutually agreed on a separation in mid-October after he raised concerns about improper GPA changes brought to him by students. At that time, students claimed that recent grade weight changes dropped some students' class rankings, while raising others.
Thursday night, the board unanimously approved an independent investigation that can cost no more than $20,000 without further approval.
Parents at the meeting said they appreciate that.
"I don't think that there is anything else out there that they are going to find," said Diane Johnson, the parent of a Krum High School student. "So I am not opposed to it the investigation… I think it will bring some peace to the community for people who have reservations."
Another parent, Stephanie Powell hoped for closure as well.
"Right now there is a big tear in the community," Powell said. "What we wanted was an investigation from the start and now we are getting it so I hope that this can bring some peace to the community."
No official word on when that independent investigation will begin.
