Tuesday was a second emotional day for those sentenced in the Atlanta school cheating case, as well as for others with a stake in the outcome. These select words paint a thousand pictures of what happened.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter, before former testing coordinator Donald Bullock stood up in court to admit to participating in cheating: “What he did, he’s going to have to tell me … I don’t want to waste time if he is not going to bare his soul here about what he did. And if he does, I am going to grant him mercy.”
Bullock: “I … do hereby sincerely apologize to the students, my fellow staff members, parents and Atlanta Public Schools system as well as the greater metropolitan Atlanta community for my involvement in the 2oo9 CRCT administration which resulted in the cheating and other dysfunctional acts … I do accept and I am, in fact, guilty of the following things (racketeering, making false statements and writings).”
Baxter: “Mr. Bullock, thank you for accepting responsibility and relieving me of a harsh sentence of you.”
Attorney George Lawson on why his client, former regional administrator Michael Pitts, would not admit to the crime of which he was convicted: “He can’t stand here and honestly look you in the face and say ‘I am a racketeer and I accept that verdict.’ ”
When Baxter commented about what Pitts knew about widespread cheating, Pitts responded: “I just didn’t know. If I would have known, I would have turned it in.”
Erroll Davis, who served as interim school superintendent after Beverly Hall resigned under investigation, when told of Pitts’ comment: “I will say without equivocation, it is his job to know. Everything that goes on in that building, you are responsible for.”
Baxter: “All I want from any of these people is to take some responsibility, but they refuse.”
Baxter, after lawyers argued about the propriety of him asking the convicted educators to apologize: “Not to me, to this whole community … I want the city to have the apology, and the children who where shortchanged and cheated to have the apology.”
The judge on sentencing Angela Williamson, after her attorney said she wants to avoid prison and raise her children: “Well, why didn’t she think about that 18 months ago? … The evidence in her case was the most overwhelming in the whole trial … She didn’t need to be taken away from her kids. She could have just accepted responsibility.”
Gerald Griggs, attorney for Williamson, said she refused to plead guilty because “she had a constitutional right to a fair trial,” which prompted Baxter to shoot back, “She had a fair trial.”
Regarding Griggs’ loud plaid suit worn during closing arguments, Baxter quipped: “You didn’t do anybody any favors with that stuff.”
Baxter justifying his harsh sentence of seven years in prison for Sharon Davis Williams, the first of three high-ranking administrators whose fates he decided: She “was at the very top of this scandal. … She’s at the top of this food chain.”
Jane Rawlings, who lives in Buckhead and has two daughters in Atlanta elementary and middle schools, said the sentences were fair.
“It impacted students quite negatively and for a sustained period of time,” Rawlings said.
“The actions of these teachers unfortunately cast a shadow over all, and I would have liked to have seen some remorse and acceptance of responsibility,” she said. “Ultimately, I think it has been worth it in terms of bringing to light a damaged culture, and now we can move forward and correct it and hopefully make amends for past mistakes.”
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