Teacher is sentenced to probation

A former W.S. Neal Elementary School special education teacher who was arrested on a felony computer tampering charge last May involving the changing of students' grades pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of computer tampering last week in Escambia County Circuit Court.

Lisa Carolyn Odom, 58, 1204 Travis Road, Brewton, was given a one-year suspended sentence and placed on one year of supervised probation.

Odom has since resigned her position with the Escambia County School System and is no longer employed by the board.

Odom was accused to accessing the computer using stolen long-in credentials belonging to W.S. Neal High School Assistant Principal Coy Campbell to modify the grades and transcripts of multiple students at the high school.

Matthew Keith Hutchins, 18, 420 Travis Road, Brewton, who was a senior at W.S. Neal High School last year, is also facing felony computer tampering charges in the same case. Court records indicate Hutchins' case has not been settled.