APS lawyers urge firing of another teacher
A tribunal of educators has recommended dismissal for former Finch Elementary teacher Curtis Thomas-Collier.
Thomas-Collier was implicated in the Atlanta public schools cheating scandal but was ultimately terminated because school system officials felt he was dishonest with investigators.
Collier previously told investigators he never entered the principal’s conference room where cheating on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests reportedly took place, according to a report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Taking the stand for the second time Tuesday, Collier admitted to being in the room for 10 minutes but said he didn’t change student answers.
“I never told them I didn’t go into the room,” he said.
“He blatantly lied to the GBI in the course of this critical investigation,” said APS lawyer Brandon Moulard. “We’ve heard so many different versions [of what happened], I’ve lost count.”
Collier’s lawyer, Leroya Chester Jennings, argued that there was insufficient evidence to prove he cheated on the test.
“As a product of APS schools, I understand the seriousness of cheating,” she said in her closing argument. “In this case, I would contend that there has been no evidence of actions or inactions taken by Mr. Collier that would be a testing irregularity.”
Almost half of the classes at Finch Elementary were flagged for high wrong-to-right erasure marks on the 2009 CRCT. Teachers at the school testified that principal Linda Paden told them that if she were disciplined for low test scores , they would be too, according to the GBI investigation.
Three teachers at the school admitted to cheating.
One teacher testified that it was known in the school that teachers had a chance to change their answers from wrong to right in the principal’s conference room when they were to erase stray marks from testing sheets. Erasing stray marks is allowed under testing protocol.
Three of Collier’s classes were cited for high erasure marks from wrong to right.
But Collier testified that he was a stickler for rules and objected to going into the conference room to erase stray marks because there were no cameras and cheating could take place. He testified Tuesday that he went into the room to enter demographic information on the exams.
“I didn’t know anything about cheating until the report came out,” he said. “I was very shocked.”
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission has recommended that Collier’s license be suspended for two years, something he plans to appeal, his lawyer said.
