In our opinion, former W.S. Neal Elementary School special education teacher Lisa Carolyn Odom got off lightly following her guilty plea last week to a misdemeanor charge of computer tampering.
The prosecution in that case was handled by the Alabama attorney general's office.
Odom was originally charged with a felony count of computer tampering for going into the W.S. Neal High School computer and changing grades which altered students' standing in the top 10.
By her guilty plea in Escambia County Circuit Court we know she had to admit to changing grades. This was no laughing matter back in May when the story first broke. It's no laughing matter now. W.S. Neal High School had to delay the naming of its valedictorian and salutatorian because grades and transcripts didn't match up with what the students actually did in the classroom.
She got a slap on the wrist with a sentence of probation for a year.
Some say that may be no big deal, but to us it's a very big deal. Student grades, in addition to ACT scores, determine whether or not students get college scholarships or scholarships to technical schools. Now we are talking about serious money that either students or parents have to fork out due to someone changing grades.
Thankfully, Odom is no longer employed with the Escambia County School System. We don't need people like her teaching our children the difference between right and wrong.
Students need to stand on their own merits. They need to make good grades because they work hard, study and earn their grades.
If there is a silver lining in this story, it's the fact that security over students' grades has not only been upgraded in Escambia County, but in school systems across the state that watched this mess unfold last May.
While we feel she should have had a felony on her record, her actions will at least make school systems take steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.
