Michigan Office of Training investigates previous ELHS principal
LANSING — The previous East Lansing Substantial University principal who resigned following it was found that he lied on his resume and falsified his faculty transcripts to clearly show he had gained a doctorate diploma is now the subject of a Michigan Office of Schooling investigation.
Several months just after Shannon Mayfield’s March 10 resignation, William DiSessa, spokesperson in the Place of work of Community and Governmental Affairs for the Michigan Section of Schooling, verified that the department has opened an investigation into Mayfield. Talking commonly, DiSessa claimed MDE has the authority to revoke or suspend teaching and administrative qualifications.
“MDE is wanting into the make a difference involving the previous East Lansing Large University principal, and does not launch details about ongoing investigations or particular documents submitted through the software method,” DiSessa reported in an email.
Mayfield did not return messages requesting comment. In a assertion he presented to the Point out Journal on March 17, Mayfield did not tackle the allegations that he lied on his resume and fabricated transcripts. Instead, he mentioned his resignation was the consequence of injuries he endured while breaking up a combat right after a basketball recreation on the East Lansing High School campus, as well as a Feb. 14 coronary heart assault.
East Lansing General public Colleges Superintendent Dori Leyko and Chief Human Resources Officer Rulesha Glover-Payne fulfilled with Mayfield on March 7 soon after deciding his resume and transcripts had been falsified, in accordance to paperwork attained by the Point out Journal through a community documents ask for.
Faculty leaders, like Leyko and Board of Training President Terah Chambers, were being unaware of the MDE investigation into Mayfield. The two mentioned they have not been contacted by MDE as component of the investigation.
Mayfield had been on depart due to the fact Jan. 25. He initially grew to become principal at East Lansing Substantial University on July 1.
When Mayfield used for the East Lansing Large University principal posture, he submitted an application detailing that he had been attending Wayne State University given that September 2018 and predicted to quickly receive a doctorate degree, according to a March 13 memo despatched from Leyko to the Board of Schooling outlining the occasions primary to Mayfield’s resignation a few times previously.
Mayfield instructed Glover-Payne that he experienced accomplished the doctorate of instruction in ethical instructional management from Wayne Point out College in a Dec. 12 email. Glover-Payne replied on Jan. 9, congratulating Mayfield and requesting that he supply an official transcript and letter confirming completion of the doctorate degree that would allow for her to system a $4,000 stipend that the diploma built Mayfield qualified for.
In reaction, Glover-Payne acquired what appeared to be Mayfield’s transcripts from Wayne Condition on Feb. 27. The transcript confirmed that Mayfield was awarded a doctorate of philosophy degree on Dec. 13, 2022, with a key in organizational management, not a doctorate of education and learning in ethical educational management as Mayfield claimed to have received.
Glover-Payne forwarded a copy of the transcript and the envelope it arrived in to the Wayne Condition University Registrar’s Office environment inquiring the university to verify the authenticity of the transcript. The administrative manager of the Wayne Point out Registrar’s Business office, Doris Davis, emailed Glover-Payne on Feb. 28, notifying her that the transcript was not a Wayne Condition academic file and cc’d Registrar Kurt Kruschinska.
Kruschinska emailed Glover-Payne on March 1, confirming that transcript was not a Wayne Point out transcript and laying out a list of reasons why the transcript was not reputable, including the watermark located on Wayne Condition transcripts is the university’s seal and not a seal that claims “Official Document,” and, with legit transcripts, Kruschinska’s identify appears on them, even though Mayfield’s transcript bore the name “Charles Bakersfield.” Kruschinska mentioned he experienced “no plan who Charles Bakersfield is or if they even exist.”
Leyko has said that the college district is not looking at having any authorized action. Nor is the district changing its selecting system as a outcome of the troubles encompassing Mayfield’s using the services of and resignation.
The system to uncover the high school’s future principal is underway, Chambers said. Officers have not designed any sizeable variations to the search method possibly as a final result of the challenges that led to Mayfield’s resignation, she explained.
A doctorate degree is not expected for the principal situation, Leyko stated. At the time Mayfield was employed, Chambers said Mayfield claimed he had not nevertheless completed the alleged doctorate degree, so officers have been unable to confirm something.
“When he stated he obtained it, that is the very first matter we did, we went to validate it,” she mentioned. “In the procedure of verifying the degree, we confirmed it was not legitimate.”
The Michigan Office of Education and learning utilizes the Michigan On-line Educator Certification Procedure, an electronic and details technique, to assistance with the evaluate and approval approach for credentials for experienced educators, according to DiSessa. Educators in search of administrator certification that would make it possible for them to get the job done in positions like a higher faculty principal implement via the MOECS method and provide needed documentation, like university transcripts, and then the MOECS system endorses the prospect for use.
Doctorate degrees, like the just one Mayfield purported to have gained, are not expected for training or administrative positions in community educational facilities and “extraneous” documentation that is irrelevant to analyzing whether a candidate is suitable for certification is not reviewed by MDE workers, in accordance to DiSessa.
“For case in point, MDE does not assessment resumes or transcripts of ancillary packages that do not lead to certification,” DiSessa stated.
Contact Mark Johnson at [email protected]. Stick to him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
