One in four Grady High School football players — 14 students— used faked addresses to play on the team and attend the school, said Atlanta Superintendent Erroll Davis on Wednesday.
Davis said a three-month investigation has found that the players and their parents falsely claimed they lived in the Midtown area so they could play on the Grady High football team.
“Once again it is adults failing children, and it’s children that get to pay the price,” Davis said during a Wednesday evening meeting with the community.
No consequences have been announced, and the investigation is still being completed.
In one case, a senior transfer played for the team but never set foot in the classroom, Davis said. In another case, two siblings were registered with different addresses.
Davis said he was disappointed to find such widespread unethical behavior nearly three years since he took over in the wake of an investigation that found vast cheating on standardized tests in Atlanta schools.
“The stunning lengths some parents went to were disconcerting,” Davis said.
Parents forged names, falsely swore they were telling the truth and lied when confronted by the school district, he said.
Many of the football players accused of being fraudulently enrolled at the school have voluntarily withdrawn, while others are being asked to withdraw.
Tuition bills are being sent to students enrolled outside the Grady High area, and civil and criminal charges are being considered, Davis said.
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