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Sunday, May 15, 2005
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A COUPLE OF DIPLOMA MILL STORIES I NEW ROLE FOR TEACHERS UNION ' TEACHERS SEEK TO GET PAY RESTORED ‘ The teachers union has filed a grievance against Canyon Creek School on behalf of two teachers whose pay was cut in March after it was found their master's degrees came from a purported diploma mill. The Canyon Creek School Board reduced pay for Candice Holzer, a fourth-grade teacher, and Beverly Henckel, a second-grade teacher, after Superintendent Stephanie Long determined that their master's degrees, earned online from Columbus University, required no real work. Steve Henry, the field representative for the Montana Education Association, said each teacher has filed a grievance against the pay cut. He said the move is a violation of the tenure clause of the teacher's contract. He also said that "they agreed to (the master's degrees) six years ago and now they're reneging on their promise." He said the legal term for this is "strong past practice." Long disputed the past-practices claim. Six years ago, "the administration and the board were not aware of the caliber of the program that they completed," she said. Both Long and Henry said the grievances are headed to an arbiter. The teachers, Holzer and Henckel, have remained at the school and plan to teach there next school year, Long said. ’ II INTERVENTION SPECIALIST TAKEN ILL ‘ At the Fort Worth school district, colleagues refer to district employee Michael J. Byrd as "Dr. Byrd." The intervention specialist, who helps families in crisis, also has received a $600 annual doctoral stipend every year since 2002, when he informed the district that he earned his doctoral degree in psychology, district records show. But now, Dr. Byrd has been demoted to Mr. Byrd. Byrd, 44, of Fort Worth received his degree from LaSalle University. But not from the well-known LaSalle University in Philadelphia. Rather, Byrd's LaSalle University was in Mandeville, La. There is no connection between the two institutions. The Louisiana version is an unaccredited university that awarded degrees to paying customers. Those degrees aren't worth the paper on which they are printed. …Byrd, a 12-year district employee who is paid $42,088 in base annual salary, earned a legitimate master's degree in religious studies in 1988 at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, TCU records show. The LaSalle from which he obtained his Ph.D. is no longer in business. It met with a slew of troubles, including an FBI raid and the eventual imprisonment for five years of its founder, Thomas Kirk, who was convicted in federal court of mail fraud, credit-card fraud and tax evasion. In an interview Sunday at his front door, Byrd said he believed that the university was accredited when he attended. "Once I graduated, then I heard someone say it may not be accredited, but I never did talk to anyone at the school," he said. He said he did not know about a disclaimer form that some LaSalle students were asked to sign after investigations began in which the students acknowledged that they understood the school lacked accreditation. Asked by the Watchdog if he realized that he could no longer legitimately be called "Dr. Byrd," he answered, "I have to find out about that. I have to call about that." Byrd cut the interview short because he wasn't feeling well. ‘ |