Mandatory district-wide ethics training was a cornerstone of plans to reform Atlanta Public Schools after its test-cheating scandal. But now district officials can’t say how many employees actually completed the training.
“I can’t find any evidence that it was carefully monitored,” said new human resources chief Pamela Hall, who started work this summer as part of superintendent Meria Carstarphen’s administration.
Carstarphen has said fixing what she calls the district’s “hot mess” of a human resources system is one of her top priorities. But the training program highlights the challenge Carstarphen faces in delivering on her promises to improve the Atlanta schools.
District records obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act suggest as many as a fifth of district employees may have failed to complete the training last year.
Hall said she can’t verify how many employees actually completed the training or whether anyone was disciplined for not completing it. Some of the employees listed in district records as not completing the program may not have been required to do so or may have completed it but not received credit, she said.
Hall said this year the district plans to do a better job of communicating with employees about the required training, tracking results, and making it available to employees without regular access to district computers.
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