HIGHLIGHTS OF TESTIMONY ABOUT FORMER ATLANTA ADMINISTRATORS ON TRIAL
1. School Reform Team executive director Sharon Davis-Williams — racketeering, false swearing and two counts of false statements and writings.
Former principal Clarietta Davis said Davis-Williams told her, “Maybe you do not have the right people on the bus,” when Davis talked of high testing goals. Former technology specialist Jackie Boyce McIntyre testified that he witnessed cheating and reported it to Davis-Williams.
2. School Reform Team executive director Tamara Cotman — racketeering.
Principal Patricia Wells told Cotman that students led her to believe teachers cheated by giving answers. Wells was later threatened with termination and demoted. Former reading specialist Monica Hooker testified that Cotman told her she was being involuntarily transferred because she “wasn’t playing for the right team.” Asked what she took that to mean, Hooker answered, “To cheat. To up those numbers.”
3. School Reform Team executive director Michael Pitts — racketeering and influencing witnesses.
Former Dobbs Elementary School teacher Derrick Broadwater testified that he cheated and that Pitts told him and others not to talk to GBI investigators. Former Parks Middle School principal Christopher Waller testified he orchestrated cheating but kept quiet about it at the direction of Pitts.
4. Dobbs Elementary principal Dana Evans — racketeering and four counts of false statements and writings.
Teacher Schajuan Jones testified that a student told Evans that a teacher had given students test answers, and Evans brushed the boy aside and kept walking. Former paraprofessional Naomi Williams said she told Evans that defendant Dessa Curb asked her to change answers on tests. Williams was fired soon afterward.
5. Deerwood Academy assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan — racketeering, theft by taking and false statements and writings.
Teachers Lavonia Ferrell and Margaret Merkerson testified that Jordan asked them to change answers on tests.
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