Atlanta cheating scandal

(reported by WBS TV Atlanta GA)

By Richard Elliot

ATLANTA — 

A former Atlanta Public Schools teacher and a former principal will each have to spend time behind bars as a judge wrapped up the cheating scandal trial, though he acknowledged the appeals may drag on for another three years.

Former Dunbar Elementary School teacher Shani Robinson was convicted along with 10 other former APS educators back in April, but because she was nine months pregnant at the time, the judge delayed her sentencing until Tuesday.

Judge Jerry Baxter disclosed he offered Robinson a last-minute deal to avoid prison time if she only accepted responsibility for her part in the cheating scandal, but she refused.  So, despite pleas for mercy from her family, Baxter sentenced Robinson to a year in prison along with four on probation.  The judge did not hide his frustration.

"You and your client have had the keys in your pocket for over a year, up until yesterday, to avoid this," said Baxter.  "I don't know if people just drank Kool-Aid or what.  I mean, the evidence is overwhelming in this case, and it's an ugly, ugly chapter. I didn't want to be in this position, but I'm here, and I reached out to you yesterday, and you rejected that.  So here I am."

Afterward, Baxter took up the matter of former Gideons Elementary School Principal Armstead Salters.  Salters took a plea deal, admitted to cheating and agreed to testify for the state in return for a lighter sentence.  But in October 2014, Salters recanted his original plea and lied on the stand, saying he never felt any pressure from higher-ups to cheat on the CRCT.

"It was perjury," said Baxter.  "Out-and-out perjury.  It's one of the worst lying episodes I've ever seen in court."

Salters read an apology.  "I have no explanation for my statement except to say that I just made some bad decisions," Salters read.  "I certainly never expected or desired my tenure with the Atlanta schools to end this way."

The judge said he could have sentenced Salters to 20 years in jail but sentenced the 76-year old man to eight straight weekends in the Fulton County Jail.

Other convicted defendants appeared in court Tuesday to announce their intention to appeal those convictions, though they're asking for public defenders to help them do it.  The defendants are trying to have themselves declared indigent so the public defender’s officer can represent them.  The cost of the voluminous seven-month-long trial transcript alone is $32,000.

(WIKIPEDIA)

Background of the Scandal:

The Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal refers to the accusation that teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) district cheated on state-administered standardized tests, and the subsequent fallout.

The scandal began in 2009 when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published analyses of Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) results which showed statistically unlikely test scores, including extraordinary gains or losses in a single year. An investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) released in July 2011 found that 44 out of 56 schools cheated on the 2009 CRCT. 178 teachers and principals were found to have corrected answers entered by students.^]The size of the scandal has been described as one of the largest in United States history.

The scandal thrust the debate over using high-stakes testing to hold educators accountable, mandated by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, into the national spotlight. Teachers who confessed to cheating blamed "inordinate pressure" to meet targets set by the district and said they faced severe consequences such as a negative evaluation or termination if they didn't.

Prior to the scandal, the APS had been lauded for making significant gains in standardized test scores. Between 2002 and 2009, eighth-graders' (the grade level at which the CRCT is taken) scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test jumped 14 points, the highest of any urban area.  Superintendent Beverly Hall, who served from 1999 to 2010, was named Superintendent of the Year in 2009. The GBI's report said Hall "knew or should have known" about the scandal. Hall's lawyer has denied she had any knowledge of cheating practices. In 2013, she was indicted in relation to her role in the matter. On September 6, 2013, Tamara Cotman, an Executive Director, represented by Benjamin Davis, was found not guilty of influencing a witness.

• 
  Donald Bullock: Weekends in jail for 6 months, $5,000 fine, 5 years of probation and 1,500 hours of community service.
  
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  Sharon Davis-Williams: 20 years in prison, seven to serve, $25,000 fine and 2,000 hours of community service.
  
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  Tamara Cotman: 20 years in prison, seven to serve, $25,000 fine and 2,000 hours of community service.
  
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  Michael Pitts: 20 years in prison, seven to serve, $25,000 fine and 2,000 hours of community service.
  
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  Dana Evans: 5 years in prison, one to serve, and 1,000 hours of community service.
  
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  Angela Williamson: 5 years in prison, two to serve, $5,000 fine and 1,500 hours of community service.
  
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  Tabeeka Jordan: 5 years in prison, two to serve, $5,000 fine and 1,500 hours of community service.
  
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  Diane Buckner-Webb: 5 years in prison, one to serve, $1,000 fine, 1,000 hours in community service and first offender treatment.
  
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  Theresia Copeland: 5 years in prison, one to serve, $1,000 fine and 1,000 hours of community service.
  
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  Pamela Cleveland: 5 years’ probation, home confinement for a year from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. and community service.