LANSING — A former East Lansing High School principal who resigned after it was discovered he lied on his resume and forged his alma mater transcripts to prove he had a Ph. D. is now the subject of an investigation by the Michigan Department of Education.
Several weeks after Shannon Mayfield resigned on March 10, William DeSisa, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Public and Government Affairs, confirmed that the department had opened an investigation into Mayfield. In general, DiSessa said MDE has the authority to revoke or suspend educational and administrative credentials.
“MDE is looking into the matter involving the former East Lansing High School principal, and is not releasing information about ongoing investigations or personal documents submitted through the application process,” Desisa said in an email.
Mayfield did not respond to messages seeking comment. In a statement provided to the State Journal on March 17, Mayfield did not address allegations that he lied on his resume and fabricated transcripts. Instead, he said his resignation was a result of injuries he sustained while breaking up a fight after a basketball game on the East Lansing High School campus, as well as a heart attack on February 14.
East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Dore Lecco and chief human resources officer Rolasha Glover Payne met with Mayfield on March 7 after determining his resume and transcripts had been forged, according to documents obtained by the State Journal through a public records request.
School leaders, including Leyko and Chairman of the Board of Education, Terah Chambers, were unaware of the MDE investigation into Mayfield. Both said MDE had not contacted them as part of the investigation.
Mayfield has been on leave since January 25th. He first became principal of East Lansing High School on July 1st.
When Mayfield applied for the position of principal at East Lansing High School, he submitted an application stating that he had been attending Wayne State University since September 2018 and was expected soon to earn a Ph. D., according to a March 13 memo from Leyko to the Board of Education outlining the events leading to Mayfield’s resignation. three days ago.
Mayfield told Glover-Payne that he completed his PhD in Education in Ethical Educational Leadership from Wayne State University in an email dated December 12. Glover Payne replied on January 9, congratulating Mayfield and asking him to provide an official transcript and a letter confirming completion of his Ph. D. that would allow her to process the $4,000 stipend for which the degree made Mayfield eligible.
In response, Glover Payne received what appeared to be Mayfield texts from Wayne State on February 27. The transcript showed that Mayfield received his Doctor of Philosophy on December 13, 2022, with a major in Organizational Leadership, not a Ph.D. of education in ethical educational leadership as claimed by Mayfield.
Glover-Payne sent a copy of the transcript and the envelope in which it arrived to the Wayne State University Registrar’s office asking the university to verify the transcript’s authenticity. The administrative director of the Wayne State Registrar’s Office, Doris Davis, emailed Glover-Payne on February 28, notifying her that the transcript was not a Wayne State academic record and a transcript from Registrar Kurt Krushinska.
Kruschinska emailed Glover-Payne on March 1, confirming that the transcript was not a Wayne State transcript and putting together a list of reasons why the copy was illegitimate, including the watermark on the Wayne State transcripts that is a university seal, not a seal. It says “official document”, and in legitimate transcripts, Kruschinska’s name appears on it, while Mayfield’s text bears the name “Charles Bakersfield”. Krushinska said he had “no idea who Charles Bakersfield was or if they actually existed”.
Leyko said the school district is not considering any legal action. Nor has the district changed its recruitment process as a result of issues surrounding hiring and resignation at Mayfield.
Chambers said the process to find the next principal for the high school is underway. She said officials did not make any significant changes to the search process either as a result of the issues that led to Mayfield’s resignation.
Liko said a Ph. D. is not required for the principal position. At the time Mayfield was hired, Chambers said Mayfield alleged he had not completed an alleged Ph. D., so officials could not verify anything.
“When he said he had it, that’s the first thing we did, we went to check on him,” she said. “In the process of verifying the degree, we have verified that it is not valid.”
The Michigan Department of Education uses the Michigan Online Teacher Certification System, an electronic and data system, to aid in the review and approval process for professional teacher credentials, according to DisSessa. Teachers seeking administrator certification that would allow them to work in positions such as a high school principal apply through the MOECS system and provide required documentation, such as college transcripts, and then the MOECS system recommends the candidate for appointment.
Doctoral degrees, such as those allegedly earned by Mayfield, are not required for teaching or administrative positions in public schools and “external” documents irrelevant to determining whether a candidate qualifies for the degree are not reviewed by MDE staff, according to DisSessa. .
“For example, MDE does not review resumes or transcripts of assistive programs that do not lead to certification,” Desisa said.
Contact Mark Johnson at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @tweet.