Story Published:
Oct 14, 2008 at 10:22 PM EST
Story Updated:
Oct 14, 2008 at 10:22 PM EST
Fresno Unified Officials today refused to comment on the investigation underway, an investigation that may have been sparked by an anonymous letter sent to officials with the California Scholastic Federation (CIF).
Tim McDonald, Edison High Football Coach: "A lot of people out there has malicious intent and they'll be exposed shortly."
In an interview last Thursday, Edison Tiger's head football Coach Tim McDonald shares his thoughts on an internal investigation underway at the school.
That investigation is into allegations that a grade of one of his players was changed from an "F" to an "A,” sometime between June and August, to make him eligible to play ball.
McDonald says, he's confident no grade change ever occurred.
McDonald: "We understand that we work one way and at the end of the day, we look forward to the day when this is all behind us."
Today, Fresno Unified would not comment on the internal investigation underway, but an official with the California Interscholastic Federation says it wasn't until he turned over an anonymous letter, detailing the allegations, that the school launched its formal investigation.
Jim Crichlow, CIF, Central Section Commissioner: "We felt it was an in-house measure. CIF allows schools to do their own grading, to take care of eligibility issues and then if something comes up further, the CIF will get involved, as far as the penalty phase, if allegations are found to be true."
Crichlow says, if the investigation finds that this grade change did occur, the next step would be to find out if Fresno Unified has academic probation for athletes and if this athlete was under the minimum 2.0 GPA required to be on the team.
But Crichlow says it also possible this investigation may not change a thing.
Crichlow: "It may have no effect, if indeed this student athlete was eligible under all other circumstances. But if not, if that grade did change him to drop below 2.0 and if he's not allowed to be on academic probation, it could cause a forfeiture of the football games he has participated in."
Crichlow also says that there were no names listed in this anonymous letter.
However, that doesn't mean that someone at Edison High School is not responsible for changing the player’s grade.
Because of school privacy laws, the football player’s has not been released by school officials.
For Preston Phillips’ full story, click on the video link above.
