GROVETON, Texas — A former Deep East Texas school district employee altered one of her relatives' grades 145 times to get the student into the top 10 percent of their class, arrest documents show.
Breanna Faye Abshier, 35, who was a Groveton ISD employee, was charged with tampering with government or school records Monday morning, Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said.
According to an arrest affidavit, Abshier manipulated the grades of her family member to impact class rankings. The family member went from being ranked 15, which was outside of the top 10 percent cutoff, to becoming ranked 5 out of 56 students after the grade changes.
As a part of her job, Abshier had access to the system that made grading changes. The edits she made were authorized by the student's teachers and tracked using grade verification sheets. Business Manager Liz Ledbetter told the Trinity County Sheriff's Office that Abshier made 145 changes without the teacher's permission during the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, the affidavit said.
The document said she changed the student's class average for a six-week period, which would then impact the student's semester grade. The 6-weeks' averages, and in-turn semester averages, were consistently increased and the changes led to the student rising into the top 10 percent.
According to the affidavit, Abshier's family member rise in the ranking led to deserving students getting subsequently removed from the top 10 percent. Timestamp information within the system showed investigators it was Abshier altering the student's grades.
Groveton ISD said on Wednesday the administration was notified of an employee allegedly changing certain educational records without authorization on Jan. 23. Superintendent Jim Dillard confirmed the allegations and the person was terminated on Jan. 29. Following further investigation, Dillard ordered the "immediate investigation of the potentially affected records of all students grades 6-12." Law enforcement was notified of potential criminal activity.
"Groveton ISD is working diligently to correct the alterations and to ensure the accuracy of each student’s educational record," the district said.
Parents who have questions or concerns about their child’s educational records can contact Dillard at (936) 642-1473 Ext 8001 or via email at jim_dillard@grovetonisd.net.
“It's still early, and I can't say anything that might jeopardize the investigation," Dillard said.