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Two OCCC Employees Resign Amid Academic Fraud Investigation

Gloria Torres
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Gloria Torres

Two Oklahoma City Community College employees have resigned amid an investigation into academic fraud at the school.

In August, an OCCC employee told authorities that her supervisor was altering test scores and enrollment information, which would reflect inflated numbers in order to gain money for state and federal grants.

This led the college’s police department, and the Office of the Inspector General, to conduct a criminal investigation in to the department in question—the Adult Basic Education Program. The investigation is ongoing.

Gloria Torres
Credit Oklahoma City Public Schools
Gloria Torres

However, the school administration recently completed their own investigation into the department, and two employees have since stepped down—Gloria Torres, an Oklahoma City Public School Board member, and Tina Azarate.

Torres’s lawyer told The Oklahoman that Torres was not implicated, and was not asked to step down.

The Oklahoma City Community College released a statement Monday, saying they will released the details of their investigation when the criminal investigation is complete.

Copyright 2016 KOSU

In graduate school at the University of Montana, Emily Wendler focused on Environmental Science and Natural Resource reporting with an emphasis on agriculture. About halfway through her Master’s program a professor introduced her to radio and she fell in love. She has since reported for KBGA, the University of Montana’s college radio station and Montana’s PBS Newsbrief. She was a finalist in a national in-depth radio reporting competition for an investigatory piece she produced on campus rape. She also produced in-depth reports on wind energy and local food for Montana Public Radio. She is very excited to be working in Oklahoma City, and you can hear her work on all things from education to agriculture right here on KOSU.
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