MDE investigates former East Lansing principal who lied on resume, faked transcripts
LANSING — The former East Lansing High School principal who resigned after it was discovered that he lied on his resume and falsified his college transcripts to show he had earned a doctorate degree is now the subject of a Michigan Department of Education investigation.
Several weeks after Shannon Mayfield's March 10 resignation, William DiSessa, spokesperson in the Office of Public and Governmental Affairs for the Michigan Department of Education, confirmed that the department has opened an investigation into Mayfield. Speaking generally, DiSessa said MDE has the authority to revoke or suspend teaching and administrative credentials.
“MDE is looking into the matter involving the former East Lansing High School principal, and does not release information about ongoing investigations or personal documents submitted through the application process,” DiSessa said in an email.
Mayfield did not return messages requesting comment. In a statement he provided to the State Journal on March 17, Mayfield did not address the allegations that he lied on his resume and fabricated transcripts. Rather, he said his resignation was the result of injuries he suffered while breaking up a fight after a basketball game on the East Lansing High School campus, as well as a Feb. 14 heart attack.
East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Dori Leyko and Chief Human Resources Officer Rulesha Glover-Payne met with Mayfield on March 7 after determining his resume and transcripts were falsified, according to documents obtained by the State Journal through a public records request.
School leaders, including Leyko and Board of Education President Terah Chambers, were unaware of the MDE investigation into Mayfield. Both said they have not been contacted by MDE as part of the investigation.
Mayfield had been on leave since Jan. 25. He first became principal at East Lansing High School on July 1.
When Mayfield applied for the East Lansing High School principal position, he submitted an application explaining that he had been attending Wayne State University since September 2018 and expected to soon earn a doctorate degree, according to a March 13 memo sent from Leyko to the Board of Education outlining the events leading to Mayfield's resignation three days earlier.
Mayfield told Glover-Payne that he had completed the doctorate of education in ethical educational leadership from Wayne State University in a Dec. 12 email. Glover-Payne replied on Jan. 9, congratulating Mayfield and requesting that he provide an official transcript and letter confirming completion of the doctorate degree that would allow her to process a $4,000 stipend that the degree made Mayfield eligible for.
In response, Glover-Payne received what appeared to be Mayfield’s transcripts from Wayne State on Feb. 27. The transcript showed that Mayfield was awarded a doctorate of philosophy degree on Dec. 13, 2022, with a major in organizational leadership, not a doctorate of education in ethical educational leadership as Mayfield claimed to have received.
Glover-Payne forwarded a copy of the transcript and the envelope it arrived in to the Wayne State University Registrar’s Office asking the university to verify the authenticity of the transcript. The administrative manager of the Wayne State Registrar's Office, Doris Davis, emailed Glover-Payne on Feb. 28, notifying her that the transcript was not a Wayne State academic record and cc'd Registrar Kurt Kruschinska.
Kruschinska emailed Glover-Payne on March 1, confirming that transcript was not a Wayne State transcript and laying out a list of reasons why the transcript wasn’t legitimate, including the watermark found on Wayne State transcripts is the university’s seal and not a seal that says “Official Document,” and, with legitimate transcripts, Kruschinska’s name appears on them, while Mayfield’s transcript bore the name “Charles Bakersfield.” Kruschinska said he had "no idea who Charles Bakersfield is or if they even exist."
Leyko has said that the school district is not considering taking any legal action. Nor is the district changing its hiring process as a result of the issues surrounding Mayfield’s hiring and resignation.
The process to find the high school’s next principal is underway, Chambers said. Officials have not made any significant changes to the search process either as a result of the issues that led to Mayfield’s resignation, she said.
A doctorate degree is not required for the principal position, Leyko said. At the time Mayfield was hired, Chambers said Mayfield claimed he had not yet completed the alleged doctorate degree, so officials were unable to verify anything.
“When he said he got it, that is the first thing we did, we went to verify it,” she said. "In the process of verifying the degree, we verified it was not valid."
The Michigan Department of Education uses the Michigan Online Educator Certification System, an electronic and data system, to help with the review and approval process for credentials for professional educators, according to DiSessa. Educators seeking administrator certification that would allow them to work in positions like a high school principal apply through the MOECS system and provide required documentation, like college transcripts, and then the MOECS system recommends the candidate for hire.
Doctorate degrees, like the one Mayfield purported to have received, are not required for teaching or administrative positions in public schools and “extraneous” documentation that is irrelevant to determining whether a candidate is eligible for certification is not reviewed by MDE staff, according to DiSessa.
“For example, MDE does not review resumes or transcripts of ancillary programs that do not lead to certification,” DiSessa said.
Contact Mark Johnson at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan Department of Education investigates former ELHS principal
