Teachers plead guilty in intimidation case
Ben Quick
BEAUFORT: Sisters who tried to pay students to attack girl get
probation and five-year ban from classroom.
By Lolita Huckaby and Stephanie Broadbent
Carolina Morning News
The language teachers who called a student dirty names taught the
teen-ager something her mother hopes the girl will forget -- fear.
On Wednesday, a judge taught the teachers a lesson they'll remember
for at least the next five years -- consequences.
Former Beaufort High School teachers Lakeisha Grayson, 26, and Tiffany
Grayson, 24, were slapped with a three-year suspended prison sentence
and five years of probation for pleading guilty to allegations that
they tried to hire students to beat up a classmate.
As part of their plea bargain, the sisters avoided jail time by also
agreeing in court to surrender their teaching licenses and not take a
school job for five years, said Assistant Solicitor Duffie Stone.
"That's the only way I could figure out to keep these people from
teaching my children, or anyone else's," he said.
English teacher Lakeisha Grayson worked at Beaufort High School, along
with her sister, Tiffany Grayson, who taught Spanish. Both were
arrested March 7 after students at the school said they were offered
money to assault a student who was dating Lakeisha Grayson's
ex-boyfriend.
Both sisters were charged with disturbing schools a month after
allegedly yelling profanity at the girl in a school bathroom during a
basketball game Feb. 5. That night Tiffany Grayson offered three
students money to assault the girl, according to arrest warrants.
Lakeisha Grayson later made the same offer to students at the school
and students she took to the restaurant where the victim worked. Those
offers led to the charges of contributing to the delinquency of a
minor.
"Fortunately no one took up these teachers' offers and no one was
hurt, which clearly shows the students were exercising more maturity
than the teachers," Stone said.
Fourteenth District Circuit Court Judge Jackson Gregory, who accepted
the guilty pleas, agreed.
"I'm as offended as you," the judge told the victim's family. "I could
understand this type of behavior from teen-agers but not from adults."
The victim's mother, Hilda Avila, said the incident in the school
bathroom in February wasn't the first or last time her daughter had
run-ins with the teachers.
She said her daughter, who was 17 at the time but is now 18, met
Lakeisha Grayson's 22-year-old ex-boyfriend over the summer and later
started dating him. In September the teen was enrolled in the
teacher's class and quickly ran into problems.
Avila said she and her husband told school officials that the teacher
was calling their daughter names and harassing her but that aside from
removing the daughter from Lakeisha Grayson's room, nothing was done.
"They made it sound like the first incident was at the basketball game
but it wasn't," the mother said. "The school knew the whole time this
teacher was getting out of control but they didn't listen."
Avila said the family met with school officials four times but the
teachers didn't stop harassing the girl, calling her names and asking
her if she thought she was grown.
"They were basically stalking my daughter everywhere she went," Avila
said. "They never missed an opportunity to put her down and call her
names."
Avila said the boyfriend told them that the relationship with the
teacher was over but that the woman continued calling his house and
didn't want to accept it.
"She was obsessed with the boy," Avila said. "I talked to the boy
personally and he said he didn't want to be with her anymore.
(Lakeisha Grayson) claims this is about a the boy. It's about
jealousy."
Avila said her daughter is still dating the man.
As surprised as she was by the teachers' behavior, Avila said she was
shocked to find out at the court hearing Wednesday that Lakeisha
Grayson had been convicted of three crimes before ever being hired by
the school district.
Stone said Lakeisha Grayson was convicted of criminal domestic
violence in 1993, driving under suspension in 1994 and shoplifting in
1996.
"I just couldn't believe you could have that (on your record) and
still be a teacher," Stone said.
Schools are required by law to pull the criminal records of anyone
applying for a teaching job and the South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division is required to give schools free reports. But the law doesn't
mandate that a teacher be denied a job or fired for a conviction, he
said.
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor carries a maximum penalty
of three years in prison and disturbing schools carries a maximum of
90 days in jail. Instead of having trials on the misdemeanor charges,
which would probably result in light sentences, Duffy said he accepted
the plea bargain because that's the only way he could assure that the
teachers are kept out of the classroom for at least five years.
Courts have no authority after that span of time, he said.
"I think if you take someone out of the profession for five years it
would be difficult for them to get back in, especially with this on
the record."
There were no representatives from the school district in the
courtroom although Stone said the administration had been notified of
Wednesday's appearance.
"I don't blame them," Judge Gregory said."I'd be embarrassed too."
"This whole thing reminds me what the Catholic Church is going through
right now," he said. "It appears there's a lot of effort being made to
protect the insiders versus those they are supposed to be serving."
Tiffany Grayson was fired in February for failure to earn her teaching
certificate. She had worked at the school since August 2000 under the
state's Critical Needs Program.
Lakeisha Grayson was fired March 29 after the school board approved
the termination at a meeting March 26, said John Williams, director of
communications for Beaufort County Schools. Because it is a personnel
matter, the reason is confidential, he said.
He also declined to comment on the sentencing Wednesday.
"We do our best to check out all allegations because we want our
parents to be comfortable in knowing their children attend schools
that are academically and socially secure," he said.
Avila said she's not sure she believes that anymore. Her daughter
still attends Beaufort High School but is more afraid than she used to
be and is far less likely to go out now. She plans to take her
daughter to counseling soon.
"She's stressed out to this day and I'm still afraid for her," Avila
said.