A second Johnston County Public Schools teacher who has been found to have used fake credentials to obtain employment and an NC teaching license is the wife of the first teacher similarly charged last week.

Torians Adaryll Hughes, age 40, was arrested on June 20th and charged with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense after an 8-month long investigation which revealed he had lied about his education history and criminal record when applying to teach in North Carolina. A judge issued Hughes a $15,000 bond and a future court date of July 18.

Ivette Serrano Hughes

Earlier today, Ivette Serrano Hughes, age 45,  was arrested by the Johnston County Sheriff’s office and was charged with one count of obtaining property by false pretense for using a fake diploma and for using a falsified resume.

Johnston County school officials confirmed that Ivette Hughes worked for the district from March 19, 2018, to June 30, 2019, and that she was an Exceptional Children’s teacher at Four Oaks Middle School.

State teacher licensing records show that Ivette Hughes holds an NC teaching license in the area of Exceptional Children: General Curriculum (K-12). That license was issued on March 19, the same day she began employment with Johnston County schools.

Ivette Hughes was making $4,000 per month ($48,000 a year) at the time of her resignation according to Caitlin Furr of the Johnston County Public Schools Communications department.

In a reply email to me about Ivette Hughes, Johnston County Public Schools provided the following statement:

A former Four Oaks Middle School employee has been charged with obtaining her job with the Johnston County Public Schools under false pretenses. JCPS notified the Johnston County Sheriff’s Department last week of concerns about credentials submitted by the employee, Ivette Serrano Hughes. JCPS also has notified the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction of these concerns.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, Ms. Hughes is married to Torians Hughes, who was charged with similar offenses. Johnston County Public Schools appreciates the prompt action of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Department in these cases.

Prior to being employed with JCPS, Ms. Hughes was employed with another school district in another state. Our Human Resources department has notified her previous employer of its concerns.

According to the JoCo report, the teacher had not yet been named but the district had told JoCo in an email that “We immediately began the process of instituting dismissal proceedings, at which point the employee resigned.”

The JoCo report broke the initial story about Torians Hughes and underscores a key point with the observation that the second incident “brings into question how well does Johnston County Schools check the credentials of teachers they place in classrooms with our children.”