NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – “I screwed up,” that is what former Randolph Howell Elementary STEM School principal Dr. Michael Ford allegedly said when school district officials started looking into TCAP “testing irregularity” at the Maury County school back in April.

Ford was indefinitely suspended on April 23, 2024, and then resigned two days later, as the district investigated his conduct with a group of students during the statewide test.

Previous Coverage: Midstate elementary school principal resigns amid questions over TCAP test integrity

According to the district’s investigative report, Ford pulled 35 fourth-grade students with “the highest rate of discipline concerns” from their normal classrooms and administered the TCAP test to those students himself. The report claims Ford then transcribed those students’ test answers, possibly violating testing rules.

The revelations come as part of MCPS’s 119-page investigation titled “POTENTIAL BREACH OF SECURITY REPORT” which was sent to the Tennessee Department of Education on April 26, 2024, and obtained by WSMV4 Investigates through a public records request.

According to the investigative report, Ford was questioned by Keith Stacey, the school district’s test coordinator, and admitted to administering the test to a “behavior group” of 35 kids and instructing them to circle their answers in testing booklets, instead of using test answer documents. Ford then allegedly told Stacey that he later transcribed what students indicated their answers to be by bubbling in their answer documents.

The report states that Ford asked at one point “Is that now what we are supposed to do?’  But when Stacy explained to him that transcription is only allowed for students with a documented accommodation or if there is a specific situation requiring transcription, Ford allegedly replied “I screwed up, I screwed up.”

Ford’s conduct with the 35 students first came into question a week after TCAP testing began, when a fourth-grade teacher came forward with concerns that testing was not being conducted as “she thought it should be.”

That teacher explained that some students had been pulled from their regular class to test with the school principal, and “several students” had not “bubbled in their answers.”

During the district’s investigation, one teacher questioned stated in an email that a student claimed she had not completed the ELA portion of the test, but when she saw her answer document the next day, all the bubbles were filled in.

In another email included in the report, a second teacher wrote that a couple of students said that some of their answers on the MATH portion of the test were filled in differently than how they answered in their booklets.

There was also a claim by one of those teachers that the windows on the doors of the room where Ford was testing students were covered with paper.

As part of the investigation, former Assistant Vice Principal Beth Hamilton was also questioned. She served as the building test coordinator at Howell Elementary and retired the day after Ford resigned.

The investigation says Hamilton confirmed that 35 students had been pulled on Ford’s suggestion that the group be created based on their behavior and due to fourth grade losing a teacher.

Hamilton said the behavioral group was not on the school’s original testing schedule and that she “forgot to submit the change” according to the report.

Ford allegedly told Stacey that “[w]e looked at discipline tracker and we sorted students into similar groups based on performance, to ensure students had the best testing environment possible.”

Ford went on according to the investigative report to say that “we took our top kids with the best shot and placed them in the same testing environment’ and “I took the behavior group to help out…and allow for all kids to test in the best environment for them.”

The report says Hamilton told district investigators that “she did not know of Dr. Ford transcribing student answers from the test booklets to the answer documents.”

WSMV4 Investigates reached out to Maury County School, the Department of Education and Ford for an interview to discuss the investigation and the claims made by teachers and students at Howell Elementary.

MCPS denied our request saying in an email “Superintendent Ventura does not discuss current or former employee personnel issues externally and respectfully declines your request for an interview. We believe the issue has been thoroughly investigated and resolved.”

The DOE said by email “[t]he department does not comment on potential or ongoing investigations.” The DOE also said in an earlier email that “staff traveled to the district and oversaw the production of replacement answer documents to ensure students were not negatively impacted.”

And while Ford said in a text message that he could not speak on camera until the matter was fully resolved, he did write that [g]roups were formed to ensure students had the best testing environment possible for success, and district leadership was informed of these groupings and their rationale in advance.”

WSMV4 Investigates has also filed a public records request with the DOE, to obtain any investigation or reports that it produces, and we are still waiting for the production of those materials.

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Tennessee baseball is two wins away from punching its ticket to the College World Series as they host Evansville in the Knoxville Super Regional this weekend.

The Vols are back in the super regionals for the fourth straight season after sweeping through the Knoxville Regional by a combined score of 33-9 last weekend. Evansville is the Cinderella story of the NCAA Tournament to date, upsetting East Carolina twice to win the Greenville Regional last weekend on its way to the super regionals.

Here’s a look at how the RTI Staff sees the Knoxville Super Regional shaking out this weekend.

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Jack Foster

I’m not going to make this any bigger than it needs to be. Yes, Evansville is a good baseball team that didn’t just get lucky in the Greenville Regional. They earned it, and they beat a good ECU team twice.

The Purple Aces will come in to Knoxville playing with house money and nothing to lose. That can be dangerous. Throw in the fact they have a more than capable offense and a really solid ace? Tennessee can’t sleepwalk this weekend.

But, in reality, the Vols are just vastly more talented. Barring a complete collapse where the offense can find zero rhythm, AJ Causey has his third bad outing of the season, Aaron Combs and Nate Snead aren’t themselves, Drew Beam has one of his rough days and Zander Sechrist and Chris Stamos cannot get out of the first inning, the Vols are advancing to the College World Series.

Tennessee picks up where they left off last weekend and dominates Evansville. The series doesn’t make it to Sunday and Tennessee wins by more than five runs in each game.

Prediction: Tennessee wins, 2-0

Ryan Schumpert

Tony Vitello said on Wednesday that any team that’s good enough to win a regional is deserving to play in the super regional and is fully capable of winning.

And he’s right. The Greenville Regional was a strong one and the Purple Aces twice beat the host team to advance. Evansville boast a deep lineup that has a pair of really good and dangerous hitters at the top. That lineup had a ton of success last week, especially in the power department. Tennessee was the only team to hit more home runs the opening week of the NCAA Tournament than Evansville.

The key for Evansville is to get another strong start from freshman Kenton Deverman. The left-handed pitcher was brilliant last weekend against Greenville and with its lack of pitching depth, the Purple Aces will need it again.

So Evansville is capable but Tennessee is the No. 1 overall seed for a reason and hasn’t lost a weekend series in 2.5 months. The Vols pitching has held up well against just about every test they have faced and their lineup is good enough to overcome Deverman.

Tennessee returns to Omaha.

Prediction: Tennessee wins, 2-0

A group of bystanders outside a store in Tennessee tried to trap a group of alleged burglars inside until police could arrive, according to social media video of the incident.

Shoppers at Tanger Outlets in Nashville’s Antioch neighborhood recorded video of four alleged burglars wearing hoodies and medical face masks stuck inside a Perfumania store.

The shoppers were outside the store and held the front door closed, trapping the suspects inside.

Video shows the alleged burglars trying to smash the back door open with a stepladder in a bid to escape. When they are unable to break down the door, the video shows them beginning to break open the wall next to the backdoor with the stepladder. 

The video ends abruptly as the suspects remain in the store.

The group of bystanders told WSMV-TV that they held the front door shut until Metro Nashville Police arrived 30 minutes later.

Witnesses told the outlet that the suspects had already escaped out the back of the store by the time officers arrived.

One witness described to the station how the alleged burglary unfolded before workers and shoppers ran out of the store.

“[They were] trying to run around the store, break into the cash register, break through the glass, get all the cologne out of the shelves and stuff,” a witness named Preston told WSMV-TV of the alleged burglars.

Preston said that security at the mall told him that the suspects jumped a fence after breaking out the back of the store and ran to Interstate 24.

“The other people seemed really upset about it because they live in the area,” Preston told WSMV. They’re just upset that it happens so often.”