Dozens of struggling Atlanta high school students were encouraged to leave school in their senior year in 2014 and transfer to private schools, a practice that kept the students from dragging down their schools’ graduation rates.
People throughout the district knew of the practice, which happened at schools throughout the city.
It was investigated only after Channel 2 Action News began asking questions, according to an internal district report recently released to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution under state public-record laws.
The transferring students had failed the state graduation tests. At the time, passing the tests was generally required for graduation at public schools but not at private ones.
Former Jackson High School teacher Tish Glover worked closely with some of the students who transferred. Referring those children to private schools — at their families’ expense — is unethical, she said.
“I think we’re sending a very bad message to students,” she said. “They think they can subvert the system and get what they want without having to work for it.”
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