Sheri Mimbs, a Georgia teacher who won a lawsuit against her district for refusing to inflate failing students’ grades, is now running for a seat on the same school board that fired her. Mimbs was terminated from Cotton Indian Elementary School in 2017 for not giving in to the demand to pass students who had not earned it.
In 2017, an assistant principal told Mimbs in writing that she could no longer give any student a grade lower than 60, even if they turned in no work at all. Shocked by this directive, Mimbs questioned the assistant principal, who doubled down on the mandate, saying, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You need to change those grades. Kids can’t have less than a 60.”
After Mimbs complained about the misguided protocol, her contract was not renewed. Aware of the reason behind her dismissal, she took legal action against the Henry County school system.
The jury sided with Mimbs, awarding her a six-figure settlement for being wronged, plus attorneys fees. Crucially, the system had to reverse her non-renewal, making her eligible to teach in Henry County again. Mimbs told reporters that being separated from the system had prevented her from getting a position in other districts.
Now, instead of returning to her teaching role or being an outside agitator, Mimbs wants to improve the school system from the top. She announced, “I’m planning to run for school board. Nobody can make me believe just giving out grades is helping any student.”
Mimbs described the landmark court victory as “a sign of relief” and “a weight off [her] shoulders.” Dishonest grading practices like these are more common than most would believe.
In another recent case in Arizona, high school faculty were pressured into changing the marks of roughly 50 seniors who would not graduate otherwise. A whistleblower said that educators are being required to make these changes and are “afraid of not doing it for fear of being termed insubordinate and terminated.”
Henry County Georgia Teacher fired for not giving students unearned grades plans to run for school boardhttps://t.co/YrdVdkTQpU
— Bob Andrews (@rcandrews) April 17, 2024
