Fallout from the state's investigation into Atlanta Public Schools' widespread cheating on standardized tests continued on Monday.
At the Atlanta School Board meeting today, the fate of some of the 178 employees caught in the cheating investigation could be decided as the board acts on plans by interim Superintendent Erroll Davis to clean up the district. The meeting is scheduled to start at 3 p.m., but any final action is not expected until sometime around 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, Channel 2's Monica Pearson tracked APS Superintendent Beverly Hall to the island of Maui to get her response to the cheating investigation that was released last week. Check out her report which aired on Channel 2 Action News during the station's 4 p.m. newscast and will air again at 5 and 6 p.m.
In Sunday's edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hall wrote an op-ed article addressing the charges.
"I am shocked and saddened by the facts uncovered by the investigators. The cheating documented is serious and cannot be ignored. I am particularly concerned for those students affected by misconduct and whose education has fallen short as a result," Hall wrote. "I sincerely apologize to the people of Atlanta and their children for any shortcomings. If I did anything that gave teachers the impression I was unapproachable and unresponsive to their concerns, I also apologize for that. Where people consciously chose to cheat, however, the moral responsibility must lie with them."
Meanwhile, a former Atlanta deputy superintendent who was hired recently to lead a suburban Dallas school district could be out of her job after Monday, the first day on her new job.
On Monday night, DeSoto Independent School District trustees could vote to fire Kathy Augustine, who has been linked to criminal and ethical violations in the APS scandal. Augustine used her credentials on improving test scores at APS to land her $188,000-a-year job. The DeSoto board's Monday night meeting agenda calls for the discussion of the APS investigation and the possible "termination of contract of employment of (the) superintendent."
Augustine was accused of "illegally" withholding public documents and "aiding and abetting" Hall in "falsifying, misrepresenting or erroneously reporting the evaluation of students" on the 2009 CRCT, according to the Georgia investigation.
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