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Cheating Our Children: More stories
No criminal charges brought in South Georgia cheating cases
Unlike Atlanta’s cheating scandal, South Georgia educators accused of fudging standardized test scores won’t face criminal charges. Dougherty County District Attorney Gregory Edwards said Friday he decided against prosecuting any of the 49 teachers and administrators accused by state investigators of misconduct. Similar to cheating in Atlanta, the investigation found ...
Principals tell of resistance to APS cheating probe
Atlanta schools regional director Tamara Cotman put principals in a tough spot during investigations into widespread cheating: They could cooperate, or they could listen to her and tell investigators to “go to hell,” according to testimony in Cotman’s trial Thursday. Cotman is accused of interfering with state investigators as evidence ...
Secret wire recording played in Atlanta cheating trial
Fearing retaliation for cooperating with Atlanta school cheating investigations, former Principal Jimmye Hawkins wore a wire when her boss took away her job. But the boss, area schools director Tamara Cotman, denied on the secret recording that Hawkins was being demoted because she had talked about a meeting in which ...
Whistle-blower revealed in cheating case
The former principal at North Atlanta High School revealed in court Tuesday he was the one who exposed how an Atlanta Public Schools administrator allegedly planned to tell investigators looking into cheating to “go to hell.” Mark MyGrant took the stand for the prosecution in the trial of former regional ...
Teachers confess in first Atlanta cheating trial
A former Atlanta teacher tearfully told jurors Monday she gave in to pressure to cheat on her students’ tests, admitting what years of investigations have sought to prove. “I feel horrible,” said Stacey Smith, who took deep breaths and wiped tears away with tissue before answering questions about what she’d ...
Former Gov. Perdue testifies in Atlanta test cheating case
Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue testified Monday in the first trial connected to Atlanta’s standardized test cheating scandal that school system employees “stonewalled” investigations. Perdue, who ordered a state investigation of scores that appeared too good to be true, said he asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2010 to ...
Trial could be a preview of future Atlanta schools cheating cases
The first trial arising from accusations that Atlanta educators cheated on standardized tests began Monday with a judge asking potential jurors to help bring closure. “This is important business. It’s so important to our community that somehow we move forward and put this all in the rear-view mirror,” Fulton County ...
APS appeals now before state high court
Pretrial appeals in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case are now before the Georgia Supreme Court, which is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to hear the appeals. The Georgia Court of Appeals has transferred to the state Supreme Court an appeal filed by some former ...
Judge allows ‘prior bad acts’ testimony in APS case
His students’ standardized test scores didn’t make any sense, Michael Milstead, the former principal at Harper Archer Middle School, testified Friday. Many of them had exceeded expectations on tests they took in elementary school. But after advancing to middle school, these same students could not read or do basic math. ...
First Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial set for August
The first trial in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case will begin Aug. 19, with former APS Executive Director Tamara Cotman facing a charge of trying to influence a witness. Cotman stands accused of telling 12 principals in December 2010 to write a “go to hell” memo to GBI agents ...
APS defendants appeal judge’s ruling against them
A Fulton County judge stunned defense lawyers in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case last month when he denied a hotly contested pretrial motion that threatened the massive racketeering indictment. It is now up to Georgia’s appellate courts to decide whether they want to review Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter’s ...
Judge refuses to dismiss APS indictment
A Fulton County judge on Friday refused to dismiss the Atlanta Public Schools racketeering indictment based on claims the prosecution’s case was infected with coerced statements given by the 35 defendants to special investigators and GBI agents. Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said he will allow his decision, a victory ...
Judge ‘seriously concerned’ about APS prosecution
A Fulton County judge on Monday said he sees possible problems with the racketeering indictment in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case. “I am seriously concerned about your case,” Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter told prosecutors. The judge expressed his concerns after listening to hours of arguments and testimony in ...
Accusations against Atlanta educators predate cheating scandal
Even before investigations exposed widespread cheating by Atlanta educators, the school district had looked into allegations against educators who now face criminal charges. Little action was taken on most of these accusations, which dated from 2001 to 2011 and included altering test answer sheets, sexual harassment of co-workers and hitting ...
Atlanta Public Schools rehires 4 ex-principals named in cheating report
Four former Atlanta principals who led schools that had questionable standardized test scores are back on the job in administrative positions outside the classroom, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They were among the 38 principals named in the state’s 2011 investigative report into test cheating, but they ...
DA seeks gag orders against APS defense attorneys
As lawyers for 35 Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal defendants converge on the Fulton County Courthouse this week, District Attorney Paul Howard wants them to walk past members of the news media without discussing the case. In a recently filed court motion, Howard is asking a judge to impose a ...
AJC, WSB ask that gag on APS defendants be removed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News have asked a Fulton County judge to lift a restriction that keeps the defendants in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating case from speaking publicly. The restriction applies only to the 35 people accused of crimes but not to their attorneys nor ...
Business leaders pushed pro-APS report despite flaws
In July 2011, a governor’s task force released a blockbuster investigative report that found widespread cheating in Atlanta Public Schools. In the findings, the authors criticized business leaders, including those at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, for a campaign to attack the “messengers” rather than find the truth because they were ...
Educator returns to DeKalb to surprise: indictment
Angela Jennings worked nearly a decade for the DeKalb County School District, until she was forced from her job as an elementary school principal during an investigation into cheating. She then taught in Abu Dhabi, and when her contract expired she hopped a flight home. She arrived Tuesday evening, just ...
Three former DeKalb County school administrators accused of cheating
Three former school administrators were indicted Tuesday by a DeKalb County grand jury on charges they manipulated tests or attendance records to improve measures of school performance. Just two weeks after a Fulton County grand jury indicted 35 former Atlanta Public Schools educators in an alleged cheating conspiracy, the DeKalb ...
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