Vera Yates’ memory of alleged wrongdoing at Dobbs Elementary School was muddled Wednesday as the ex-teacher testified during Day 41 of the Atlanta test-cheating trial.
She would answer questions one way and then moments later answer the same questions differently.
Defense attorneys asked her several times: Perhaps the stroke she had 10 months ago was interfering with her recall?
Yes, Yates said.
Like other former educators who’ve testified in the Atlanta Public Schools case, Yates, once an art teacher at Dobbs, said she saw evidence of cheating on standardized tests. It was that suspicion and former principal Dana Evans’ supposed dislike of her that were the reasons she lost her job at the school, Yates said.
Prosecutors in the trial being held in Fulton County Superior Court focused Wednesday on Evans, former teacher Angela Williamson and former teacher Dessa Curb, all from Dobbs Elementary. They are among 12 defendants who are fighting charges that they engaged in a racketeering conspiracy to inflate scores on standardized tests.
Defense attorneys tried to discredit two of the one-time Dobbs educators who testified Wednesday by focusing on their tainted employment histories and pre-existing efforts to push them out of their jobs at the school.
Arlette Crump, for example, testified Tuesday that she was appalled that a student in her fifth-grade class had the skills of a kindergartner. But on Wednesday, defense attorneys cast doubt on whether Crump had even taught the fifth grade.
Under cross-examination, Crump acknowledged that she was moved to teaching the second grade instead of the fifth just days before the 2008-09 school year began. Crump said she believed it was in retaliation for having issues with principal Evans.
“She moved me because something ticked her off,” Crump said.
Then Evans’ attorney, Robert Rubin, showed records of students and parents complaining that Crump used racial slurs with children in the classroom and would embarrass them, as well.
“I challenged those students because of their behavior, their demeanor,” Crump said, explaining that she was repeating the words parents and students used in conversations with her to show the children that it was wrong.
As for Yates, she was written up for sleeping in the classroom while three first-graders behaved sexually with one another, according to school records cited by defense attorneys. Yates was also reprimanded by Evans for letting students watch cartoons and not showing up on time.
The allegation that she slept in the classroom bothered Yates while the other complaints seemingly did not.
“I’ve never fallen asleep in the classroom,” Yates said.
“Did you tell the GBI that you’ve never been reprimanded?” Rubin asked.
“I’ve never fallen asleep in the classroom,” Yates said in response.
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