DA seeks information on grade changes at APS schools
Atlanta Public Schools grading investigations
The school system this year has investigated eight allegations of improper grading practices. Information about the following cases have now been referred to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office:
- South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice: APS investigators found that the principal changed 144 grades from failing to passing with scant justification.
- Carver School of Technology: A district report says the principal awarded about 70 students B's after learning that substitutes had not recorded grades.
- Washington School of Banking, Finance and Investment: A district report says the principal allowed students to receive grades they had not earned.
- Washington High School: A district report says a school registrar changed a student's grade from 69 to 70, a passing grade.
Source: APS investigative reports
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has asked for information involving cases of Atlanta Public Schools students allegedly receiving grades they didn’t earn.
The district attorney requested the information after receiving media questions about several cases, APS spokeswoman Jill Strickland said. It’s unclear whether that information will lead to a formal investigation.
APS has investigated at least eight allegations of improper grading practices this school year.
District investigators found wrongdoing at South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice, Carver School of Technology and, in two instances, at Washington High School. Two of the eight cases are still open. In the other cases, no wrongdoing was found, Strickland said.
“The superintendent has insisted on complete transparency with all investigations and has directed her team to assist the DA with any questions he may have,” Strickland said.
All the cases allegedly took place after the Atlanta test-cheating scandal came to light and after district officials pledged to clean up a culture of corruption. The grade changes the school district investigated at Carver took place even while former APS educators were on trial for cheating involving state standardized tests.
“Our office is in the process of evaluating those files,” Fulton County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Yvette Jones said. “No other determinations have been made at this time.”
In both the South Atlanta and Carver cases, APS teachers and staff who complained about behavior they thought was unethical later found their positions eliminated.
District investigators found that one of those teachers had been retaliated against. But for the others, district investigators said losing their jobs had nothing to do with telling on their principals. The district says they can apply for other jobs with APS.
APS human resources director Pam Hall told Channel 2 Action News that APS employees should still have confidence that if they report possible wrongdoing that they’ll be protected. She promised APS would investigate alleged retaliation and punish it where it’s been found.
But when asked whether there’s still a culture of fear at APS, Hall said yes.
“Given everything that this district has been through,” she said, “I believe people are afraid.”
University of Georgia School of Law professor Ronald Carlson said grade changing could potentially violate state laws against falsifying state records. Some of the former educators found guilty in the Atlanta standardized test-cheating scandal were convicted on similar charges.
From the information trickling out so far, the grade changing problems don’t sound as widespread as the test-cheating scandal, Carlson said.
“But it’s serious enough in its own right,” he said. “We don’t want students moved on and passed if they have not adhered to minimum standards.”
The details of the cases sent to the district attorney differ, but most involve principals doing improper things to students’ grades, according to district reports. The reports say:
- Charlotte Davis, while she was the principal at South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice, changed 144 grades from failing to passing in the 2013-14 school year with scant justification. Davis resigned this spring.
- Josie Love, as the principal of Carver School of Technology, awarded about 70 students "B's" after she learned that substitutes had not recorded grades for the students. Love was demoted from principal to assistant principal but has not yet found another position within the district, an APS spokesman said.
- Charcia Nichols, as the principal of Washington School of Banking, Finance and Investment, gave some students preferential treatment, allowing them to receive grades they had not earned. She has since resigned.
- Another Washington High School case involved a registrar changing a student's grade from a 69, a failing grade, to a 70, a passing grade.
