HOUSTON – Judging by his accolades, Vincent Grayson was a standup guy and a good coach. He was the head basketball coach at a Houston public high school in the state’s largest school district. Earlier this year he was nominated for High School Coach of the Year at the Houston Sports Awards. He led the team to their first-ever UIL state tournament in 2023.
Now he’s accused of being the ‘kingpin’ in a teacher cheating scandal that brought in more than a million dollars over four years and put more than 210 uncertified teachers in schools throughout the state. Two of those teachers were sexual predators.
Grayson, 57, had worked at Booker T. Washington High School for 22 years and was making $4,500 a month when he was abruptly fired Monday after investigators identified him as the ringleader.
Here’s how the cheating scheme worked
Investigators laid out this scheme:
- The coach had a setup where teachers who’d failed their certification tests or were afraid they couldn’t pass, would pay him $2,500.
- Grayson would tell them exactly when to come to one of two testing centers where test proctors took money from Grayson to allow the cheating.
- Teachers showed up on the appointed day, showed ID, signed in, and then left.
- A few minutes later, the assistant principal at Grayson’s school would sit in their seats and take the test for them. He took more than 430 tests for teachers.
- An assistant principal from another school helped recruit and refer candidates to Grayson. She took $1,000 from each for them to have access to Grayson.
“Numerous teacher certification candidates seemed to fit the same criteria where they would drive from far-flung cities, sometimes from Dallas, Fort Worth, or farther. Often these people had previously failed one or more attempts at the certification exam. They then drove sometimes four or more hours to the Houston area and suddenly they were passing the test with flying colors,” said the chief investigator, Mike Levine…