NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Nashville charter school company says it will change its hiring practices after a woman involved in a deadly shooting was assigned to teach the class of the victim's brothers.
Juanneika Scott was devastated by the shooting death of her 19-year-old son Mykal Prime on July 25.
Prime was shot and killed during an alleged drug deal. The woman he was allegedly buying drugs from, 25-year-old Khadijah Griffis, told police she shot Prime in self-defense.
Nashville Metro Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.
After grieving for several weeks over their brother's death, Prime's 14-year-old twin brothers went back to school last week.
"I put them in a safe place. I thought the school was safe," Scott said.
But that feeling of safety was shattered Friday when the twins had a substitute teacher in their math class. It was Khadijah Griffis, the same woman who had shot and killed their older brother last month.
"They were put in the room with their brother's killer, and they were tormented by this woman," Scott said.
Scott said other students at the school actually knew Griffis because she had been a substitute there before. She said some students even asked her how she had gotten away with shooting someone.
One of the twins, Daquan Prime, said he looked up Griffis online and suddenly realized who was teaching his class.
"I was putting two and two together, and I was like that's my brother's killer," Daquan said.
Daquan claims Griffis taunted him by "mimicking" his name.
Daquan and his brother attend RePublic High School a charter school that uses two temp agencies to fill substitute teaching positions.
Scott cannot believe Griffis was hired despite numerous news articles about what happened.
"If they Googled her, they'd find out she had guns and drugs. A school teacher? I never heard of a school teacher like that," Scott said.
"As soon as we found out what happened we obviously immediately asked her and escorted her off the premises," Jon Rybka, the CEO of RePublic Charter Schools said.
Rybka said Griffis was assigned to RePublic by a New Orleans-based temp agency called Enriched Schools, which provides substitutes to charter schools across the country.
"We immediately contacted Enriched and asked for an explanation of what happened here," Rybka said.
Rybka said fellow teachers had sent Enriched Schools news articles about the shooting, and the company "red-flagged" Griffis. However, the hold was somehow lifted, and Griffis was allowed back in the classroom.
Scott held her kids out of school this week and said she wants changes in how RePublic vets substitute teachers.
"If a red flag ain't working what other security measures need to be done?" Scott said. "I feel like I let my kids down when I sent them to school that day."
Rybka said he and the school principal have met with Scott and apologized about what happened. He said RePublic Schools would stop using Enriched teachers going forward until they get assurances this will not happen again.
Enriched Schools did not respond for a request for comment.
This story was originally published by Ben Hall on WTVF in Nashville.
