Tragedy, scandal and one heckuva traffic jam made up some of the most clicked-on education stories in 2014.
These picks are based on page views on our websites, not stories we deemed to be the “best.” Most take place in Atlanta Public Schools, although none are related to the ongoing cheating scandal, which is now playing out in court. Also absent from the list are the year’s big stories about test scores and Common Core.
Here’s a look at which stories attracted the most traffic:
In March, the results of a three-month investigation showed that 14 Grady High School football players used faked addresses to play on the team and attend the school. The Georgia High School Association later sanctioned Grady High and the scandal resulted in several school employee resignations, suspensions and reassignments. At least three families who lived outside the city of Atlanta were retroactively billed tuition of between $5,000 and $35,000, depending on how long the students were improperly enrolled at Grady, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.
In May, students and staff at Bunche Middle School in northwest Atlanta were rocked by the news that an eighth-grade student died after becoming sick during a class. Melvin Bussey died after being rushed to the hospital. Emergency responders and the family were contacted immediately, and grief counselors were brought to the school to support students and staff. The brother of the 13-year-old boy spoke out and said he believed the special-needs student was pushed too hard in P.E. class.
A troubling report released in March ranked Emory University third among U.S. campuses for the rate of reported forcible sex offenses on campus. Only Princeton and Brown universities had more forcible sex offenses per 1,000 students in 2012, according to Rehabs.com. Emory's ranking by Rehabs.com was based on reports of offenses, not arrests. An in-depth investigation published by the AJC this month found that for the last two years, Emory University recorded the most sexual assaults of any college in Georgia, but has not referred a single rape case to the DeKalb County District Attorney.
January's epic traffic jam was a big story for everyone, and schools were no exception. Many metro Atlanta schools were closed for days after the storms dumped snow on the city, leaving students stranded in schools overnight and stuck in traffic for hours. At one point during the night of the storm, more than 10,000 students hadn't arrived home. Inspiring stories emerged of teachers walking to get emergency prescriptions for students and bus drivers calming students on the overnight ride.
In March, an Atlanta middle school principal resigned after an investigation concluded he had affairs with a teacher and a parent, and failed to investigate whether a custodian was selling marijuana to sixth-grade students. Former Young Middle School Principal Kelvin Griffin denied the allegations, saying they were based on “rumors that got out of hand.” Griffin said he stepped down because he felt the Atlanta school system wouldn’t support him after its 10-month investigation.
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