Canutillo ISD Superintendent Questioned About Grade Manipulation Allegations While He Was At El Paso ISD

At Wednesday night’s CISD School Board Meeting.Meeting, the Canutillo Independent School District was dealing with aftershocks from last week’s federal investigation that rocked the El Paso Independent School District

Concerns were raised after a 4-year-old email from CISD Superintendent Dr. Damon Murphy emerged, appearing to encourage grade manipulation while he was serving as an associate superintendent at the EPISD.

The president of the CISD school board, Laurie Searls, said she’s standing by Murphy,

“We heard (Wednesday) night from top administrators and faculty that we’re doing our job properly; over and above,” she said.

“I’ve never been asked to do anything that pushed me to do something that was on the outskirts of questionable,” said Cantuillo High School Principal Jim Fry.

The email, unearthed in a federal investigation, gave principals and administrators the directive to make incoming, foreign high schoolers freshmen, high-schoolers freshmen even if they deserved to be placed higher thsn the 9th than the ninth grade.

When ABC7 confronted Murphy with a hard copy of the email, he shot back, “I have no comment about what happened two years ago in a different district. I have no idea what Dr. Jordan put forth in that press conference.”

While Murphy pointed to EPISD Interim Supeintendent Dr. Terri Jordan, Searls questioned the motives of the EPISD by including Murphy in the investigation.

“Sometimes, when the kitchen’s hot, they wanna get out, huh? Turn up the heat on someone else,” said Searls of the EPISD. “So I don’t know what to think about it other than we’re on top: we’re doing great. So I’m sorry for them [that the] kitchen’s pretty hot.”

Related Link:Email from Murphy to Bowie principal in 2008 provided by EPISD