Atlanta Public Schools has asked prosecutors to look into the case of a high school principal whom the school district’s investigators allege awarded students grades they didn’t deserve.
The school system referred cases involving former Carver School of Technology principal Josie Love and assistant principal Yolanda McKee to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office late Thursday, soon after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News began questioning the district about grading at Carver. APS also referred their cases to the state agency overseeing teacher licensure on Thursday.
Love and McKee did not return messages from the AJC.
Both Love and McKee violated district policies and state rules, according to an APS report.
APS spokesman James Malone said Love has been demoted from principal to assistant principal but has not yet found another position within the district. McKee received a letter of reprimand. She will continue to serve as an assistant principal on the Carver campus, Malone said.
The Carver grading allegations are the latest in a series of accusations that APS principals manipulated student grades.
They all allegedly took place after the Atlanta test-cheating scandal came to light and after district officials pledged to clean up a culture of corruption. An APS report alleges that the grade changes at Carver took place even while former APS educators were on trial for cheating involving state standardized tests.
The allegations at Carver first came to light when Carver secretary Rolanda Veal reported the grading problems to a district administrator. Veal later lost her job, but APS investigators found that she had not been the victim of retaliation. She said APS officials have told her she can apply for other jobs in the district.
“Cheating is cheating,” Veal said. “It doesn’t matter if you erase answers on the CRCT or the Georgia Milestones or change grades.”
APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen was not available to speak to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for this story, district spokeswoman Jill Strickland said.
In a written statement, Strickland said the district takes any improper grade changing or retaliation against employees who report alleged wrongdoing seriously.
“We are tackling unethical behavior, making employees accountable and promoting a safe environment for employees to report allegations of dishonorable actions by other employees,” she wrote. “It is important for our stakeholders to know that APS is undergoing a culture change. We are serious about performing thorough investigations on allegations of misconduct in order that we obtain solid evidence and facts to support our commitment to eliminate unethical behavior in the district.”
In one earlier case, teachers at Crim High School told the school board that students in online classes this past spring were awarded grades they did not earn.
A district report says that in spring 2014, the former principal of South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice changed nearly 150 student grades from failing to passing with scant justification. The district concluded its investigation of those grade changes this May, nearly a year after they were first reported.
This past January at Carver School of Technology, Love discovered that students in reading classes overseen by a series of substitutes did not have grades entered for the previous semester, according to a district report. About 70 students were enrolled in the classes, Veal said.
Love suggested a fix: award every student a grade of 85, the equivalent of a “B,” according to the report. Students who complained about not getting an “A” could do an extra project to earn the higher grade.
When Love ordered Veal, her school secretary, to enter the grades, Veal refused, according to the report. That would be falsification of student records, she told district investigators. Besides, there was work in the classroom students could be graded on, she said.
Veal complained to the administrator over APS high schools, Timothy Gadson. But he told her she was insubordinate in not doing as she was told, according to the account she gave to district investigators.
Gadson later disputed that account and told investigators he did not authorize Love’s actions.
But after Veal complained, she said Love retaliated by setting unreasonable expectations and writing her up for not meeting them. Of 20 emails Love sent reprimanding Veal, nearly all were sent after Veal complained about her actions, according to the report.
After 17 years of service and 15 positive annual evaluations — with top ratings for the past two years — Love abolished Veal’s position this spring. Carver School of Technology will be consolidated with other “small schools” at Carver next school year.
APS’ official policy is that employees who report suspected ethical violations will not be subject to any reprisal. But district investigators found the evidence did not show Veal lost her job as payback for complaining.
Veal said APS officials told her she can apply for other open secretary positions in the district. As of Thursday, she had not landed a new job.
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