The job of Canutillo Superintendent Damon Murphy is on the chopping block because of an internal investigation about credit transfers.

Dr. James Vazquez with the Education Service Center (ESC) - Region 19 tells KFOX14 News that letting go of Murphy will be a lengthy process, and he needs to be given due process.

However, Canutillo school board members said they were ready to take immediate action if they found it necessary.  After three hours of deliberation in a closed session on Wednesday night, school board members determined to proceed with the intent to terminate Murphy's contract. 

During this meeting, a pair of internal auditors revealed evidence through data analysis, records and emails that a sub-group of 10th grade Limited English Proficiency students were promoted to 11th grade prior to taking a 10th grade assessment test.

The conclusion of the audit states:

"[I]t appears that the Superintendent directed two administrators to avoid subpopulations and actions were taken by the administrators to ensure that the subpopulations were not created. In addition, many mid-year grade classification were made to promote 10th graders to 11th graders resulting in the avoidance of the 10th grade accountability year."

"I don't know from what I heard if the superintendent has done anything wrong or if it's just a series of mistakes," said John Joyner, a parent of Canutillo High School.

The board approved the investigative audit during the meeting. 

Despite not being convinced if Murphy was to blame for the mid-year changes, news of creating a sub-group of students to avoid federal accountability is very troubling to parents.

"Because what they're doing is circumventing the system to keep their scores up and if that is in fact what they're doing than we have a serious problem," said Joyner.

According to Vazquez, finding an interim superintendent will also have to follow a certain procedure. All actions need to be placed as agenda items before being decided on by the board. 

"Tonight when they meet and get a report ... I would be very surprised if they immediately suspend him or fire him, because they haven't had time to study it. Because if they say they have studied it, then there are other issues about the legality of their meeting," said Vazquez.

Murphy has also been accused of involvement in the El Paso Independent School District cheating scandal during his time as associate superintendent with EPISD. He started working at Canutilo Independent School District in January of 2010. 

"[Board members] would receive the reporting, and on the basis of that, they could suspend him and then hold another meeting to discuss the facts in the report. Then, if the report is convincing enough and they have grounds to fire him, then they have another meeting to announce the plan to fire him," said Vazquez.

ESC is an entity that serves under the Texas Education Agency. Vazquez has prior experience as a superintendent.