South Oak Cliff is forfeiting its 2005 state boys basketball championship after an independent investigation determined that grades for three players were improperly changed from failing to passing, Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa said Friday. The school has won four consecutive state Class 4A championships but has surrendered two of them because of improper grade changing. The University Interscholastic League stripped SOC of the 2006 title in June. On Thursday, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported grades were improperly changed for three SOC athletes before the 2005 UIL state tournament. WFAA identified the players as Kevin Rogers, Darrell Arthur and Kendrake Johnigan. Hinojosa would not confirm those names. Arthur is an NBA rookie, playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. Rogers is a senior on the Baylor basketball team. Johnigan played last season at Eastfield College in Mesquite. The report of the independent investigator, Houston-based Feldman, Rogers, Morris & Grover, L.L.P, did not address the question of who authorized the grade changes. Hinojosa declined to comment on school personnel but said he would investigate further. He sent a letter of forfeiture Friday to the UIL. South Oak Cliff coach James Mays declined to comment Friday. In an appearance on The Michael Irvin Show on ESPN-FM (103.3) in May, former SOC teacher Winford Ashmore said Mays and former SOC principal Donald Moten had pressured him into changing Arthur's math grade, which Mays has denied. WFAA reported in November 2007 that Moten had pressured an English teacher to change a player's grade in the weeks leading up to the 2006 regional tournament. Moten was moved out of SOC in 2006 and resigned from DISD in April 2008 after being notified of the results of an internal investigation into improper grade changing. He could not be reached for comment Friday. The 6-9 Rogers has scored in double figures for 16 consecutive games for Baylor, which plays this afternoon against Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Baylor basketball spokesman Chris Yandle declined to comment, citing student privacy laws. Arthur could not be reached for comment. In a nine-page synopsis of its investigation presented Friday afternoon, the agency determined that a former player's theater arts grade was changed to passing during the third six-week period of the 2004-05 fall semester, and the same player's theater arts grade was changed to passing during the first six-week period of the spring semester. The agency also determined failing algebra grades were improperly changed. A failing Algebra I grade recorded during the spring 2003 semester was changed to passing in January 2005 – a year and a half after the original grade was posted. No names were mentioned in the report. ERICH SCHLEGEL / DMN South Oak Cliff boys basketball will lose the 4A state title they won in 2005. View largerMore photos Photo store David Feldman of the law firm added that one grade change was found during the 2006-07 season, but that change had no impact on the team's 2007 state title run. The change did not occur during the basketball season. The DISD hired the firm in October to perform a review after questions and concerns were brought up regarding the findings of the DISD's internal investigative unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility. The office initially cleared SOC of wrongdoing during the 2004-05 and 2006-07 seasons. But the independent review was commissioned after WFAA reported that the Office of Professional Responsibility had interviewed no former SOC teachers. The outside agency interviewed 37 individuals, including former SOC teachers, and determined the program violated UIL eligibility rules. The DISD forfeited SOC's 2006 title in January 2008 after an internal investigation determined that the failing English grade of a player – whom WFAA identified as Johnigan – was changed to passing before the 2006 regional tournament. The UIL accepted the forfeit five months later. The DISD has been investigating the validity of SOC's 2005 and 2007 state titles since January 2008. "We hope this chapter can close and we can move on," Hinojosa said. "We want to make sure this never happens again."
Damn. I love high school and college sports, but I'm not down with changing grades so a student-athlete can stay eligible. Whoever changed the grades should be reprimanded severely.
