LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WAFF) - After staying quiet for over three years, the man responsible for shedding light on the corruption in Limestone County and Athens City Schools sat down in an exclusive interview with WAFF 48.
Dr. Mark Isley was terminated from his position as the Executive Director of Operations and Human Resources for Limestone County Schools in Jan. 2020 when officials learned he was working with the FBI.
Five educators were sent to prison in a conspiracy case to defraud the federal government and pocket millions of dollars. It was done by inflating the number of students enrolled in each district’s virtual programs.
“You need to be transparent, this is public money,” Dr. Isley said. “We began to see that we grew by 2000 students and nearly by 100 teachers. Our financials were growing by $11 million in less than 6 months.”
Dr. Isley spent 25 years in education but only two at Limestone County Schools before being fired.
“I didn’t question God, but I just question the fact of ‘Am I in the right state, am I in the right profession?” Dr. Isley said.
Dr. Isley says this could have all been avoided with an amendment to the Student First Act of 2011.
The law was created to improve the quality of public education in Alabama, but Isley says there’s a major flaw. Any educator, despite rank, is subject to termination at will if they have less than three years at an institution. Former Alabama Senator Phil Poole believes these stringent rules could lead to even...
The Green Party has suspended a London council candidate who shared social media posts blaming Israel for the arson attacks on Jewish volunteer ambulances in March. A repost on the social media pr...