Former HISD employee indicted over dropout flap

Read the Rick Casey analysis (next post) for his view on how unjust this indictment is. I happen to agree with him as well. -Angela

Oct. 8, 2005

Former HISD employee indicted over dropout flap
Prosecutors say computer records link him to the falsified data
By SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A Harris County grand jury indicted a former Sharpstown High School computer
network specialist Friday on a charge of tampering with a governmental
record so that it would appear the school had no dropouts during the 2001-02
year.

Kenneth Cuadra, who resigned from the Houston Independent School District in
August 2004, faces a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in
prison and a $10,000 fine.

It is likely the first-ever indictment of a public school staff member
accused of criminal misconduct relating to dropout reporting, a spokeswoman
for the Texas Education Agency said.

"This should close the books on the whole episode," DeEtta Culbertson said.
"Houston ISD took steps to tighten up their data reporting. That was a good
thing."

Chris Tritico, Cuadra's attorney, said the criminal charge was the result of
shoddy investigative work forwarded to the district attorney's office by
HISD, not misconduct on the part of his client.

The charge against Cuadra comes three years after widespread problems were
uncovered with how the state's largest school district accounted for
students who left school.

The underreporting of dropout data brought national scrutiny to Texas'
system of grading schools and to HISD's highly acclaimed educational gains
under former Superintendent Rod Paige.

The state had routinely used dropout statistics to rank high schools. Those
results, in turn, were used by many district officials to dole out
performance bonuses to administrators. The state now looks at graduation
rates — rather than dropout rates — to determine how a high school should
rank.

No motive established

In making her case to the grand jury, Assistant District Attorney Terese
Buess, of the Public Integrity Division, said evidence showed that Cuadra's
computer identification number was used on or about Oct. 22, 2002, to change
the school's dropout numbers from 30 to zero.

She declined to speculate on why Cuadra made the changes, since no motive
was established. She added that she didn't have to prove a motive to support
an indictment.

Buess said there wasn't enough evidence to support charges against any other
school administrators, even though several others were implicated in the
scandal at the time. Principal Carol Wichmann lost two weeks' pay from her
retirement benefits, and the school's three assistant principals, Robert
Kimball, Marmion Dambrino and Andrew Monzon, were reassigned and received
letters of reprimand.

Kimball, however, later filed a lawsuit accusing HISD of retaliating against
him for questioning the district's handling of the scandal. In a settlement
last year, HISD paid Kimball $90,000 and withdrew the reprimand. Kimball
also sent letters to Harris County prosecutors in 2003 asking for a criminal
investigation.

On Friday, Buess did not rule out future indictments should evidence warrant
them, but said: "There was evidence only on Mr. Cuadra."

"That information goes to Austin, and decisions are made based on that
information," Buess said. "My office is going to continue to investigate
every shred of information."

An independent investigation funded by HISD in 2003 found that Sharpstown
administrators fostered a climate that tolerated unrealistic dropout numbers
and encouraged Cuadra to alter records. HISD later turned that report over
to Harris County prosecutors.

The state's investigation reached a similar conclusion, and prompted the TEA
to strip HISD of its "acceptable" accountability rating amid doubts about
the accuracy of dropout figures at high schools districtwide.

The TEA restored HISD's rating a year ago, after determining HISD had
cleaned up its data-reporting practices. Twelve high schools, including
Sharpstown, and two middle schools with flawed dropout numbers were forced
to keep their "low performing" ratings.

Tritico said he and his client were disappointed by the indictment.

"He's dismayed about the indictment," he said. "This is such a sad turn of
events after all this time — now he has to put his life on hold and battle
HISD."

Cuadra did not want to comment, Tritico said, and he added that: "We look
forward to 12 citizens of Harris County looking at the facts."

Reactions mixed

HISD officials declined to comment on the indictment beyond a one-page
written statement that included: "HISD dealt effectively with the Sharpstown
issue and also used the experience to improve the way it tracks and prevents
dropouts."

Karla Cisneros, one of nine school board trustees, said she thinks the
district acted "appropriately" in its handling of the dropout investigation.

Three other trustees did not return calls seeking comment by early Friday
evening.

Kimball, however, an outspoken critic of the district's handling of
Sharpstown, questioned why the criminal investigation hasn't gone farther.

"It makes me angry. There's a lot more people who should be indicted," said
Kimball, who teaches at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. "They're going
after the one that's the easiest to prove. I'm very disappointed people in
higher leadership weren't indicted."

salatheia.bryant@chron.com

RESOURCES
A LOOK BACK AT SHARPSTOWN

Key events in the dropout reporting scandal uncovered in 2003:
• February 2003: Reports surface that Sharpstown High School administrators
knew dropout information provided to the Texas Education Agency was false.

• March 2003: The Houston Independent School District disciplines Robert
Kimball and Kenneth Cuadra while it investigates the dropout reports.

• August 2003: An investigation by Rusty Hardin and Associates determines,
as did an earlier HISD investigation, that Cuadra changed the dropout
records in a school computer. Documents are turned over to the Harris County
District Attorney's office.

• June 2004: HISD agrees to pay $90,000 to settle the whistle-blower lawsuit
of former Sharpstown Assistant Principal Robert Kimball. He accused school
officials of retaliating against him for pointing out the falsely reported
numbers.

• October 2004: HISD agrees to spend $435,000 to hire 10 dropout-prevention
specialists as part of a push to keep students in school.

• Oct. 7, 2005: A Harris County grand jury indicts Kenneth Cuadra, a former
computer technician at Sharpstown, on a charge of falsifying government
computer records so that it appeared the school had no dropouts in 2001-02.
The second-degree felony is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up
to a $10,000 fine.