CONTINUING COVERAGE
In 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the first of what would be several stories highlighting suspect test scores in Atlanta Public Schools and other Georgia districts. In the years that followed, the newspaper continued to dig, and eventually special investigators appointed by the governor exposed widespread cheating in the 50,000-student APS district. The APS trial is the latest chapter in that coverage. It began on Aug. 11 with a jury-selection process that lasted for six grueling weeks. And on Sept. 29, opening arguments started in a trial that could take several months.
Follow the trial with our up-to-the-minute reports each day from inside the courtroom at MyAJC.com or follow along on Twitter: @AJCcourts.
Her lawyers take copious notes of the testimony against her. Prosecutors have so far called upon several witnesses implicating her in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case and more witnesses are coming.
Yet Beverly Hall, who has pleaded not guilty, is nowhere to be found in Fulton County’s ceremonial courtroom where 12 former educators and administrators are on trial for the scandal. The former superintendent, who was also indicted, cannot be tried at this time because she is being treated for cancer.
“Dr. Hall continues to battle Stage IV breast cancer and that is her focus right now,” her lawyer, Richard Deane, said in a statement issued Friday.”Her doctors have made it clear to her and to us as her lawyers that due to the seriousness of her condition her health has to be the first priority, so she is just not physically able to challenge what the state is trying to present in court.”
During the first week of testimony, which got underway Sept. 29, at least one — and sometimes up to three — of Hall’s attorneys sat in the gallery paying close attention to the proceedings. And for good reason. Hall does appear to be on trial, in absentia.
This makes sense because she is still a defendant, Atlanta attorney Buddy Parker said.
If the evidence points to her, then she necessarily has to come up in testimony, Parker said. “Just because a person is not on trial, you don’t have witnesses alter their testimony.”
Prosecutors are alleging that Hall and the 12 defendants now on trial were part of a racketeering conspiracy whose goal was to inflate scores to obtain bonus money, promotions and prestige.
A criminal conspiracy is an agreement among people to carry out an illegal act, Atlanta defense attorney Ed Garland said.
“To prove their case, prosecutors need to show a conspiracy existed and these defendants knowingly joined in its illegal goal,” Garland said. “In this case, was the test cheating part of an overarching conspiracy? Or did they do it because they wanted to keep their jobs, without any knowledge of some big conspiracy? This could be as confusing as can be.”
But Hall has to be part of the prosecution’s case, Atlanta lawyer Jeff Brickman said.
“The battle cry from Day One is that it all started at the top,” said Brickman, once a DeKalb County district attorney. “The prosecution has chosen to pursue that theory whether Dr. Hall’s in the courtroom to point at or not. And if that’s their theory, they’ve got to make it clear to the jury. The question is whether the jury will buy into it.”
In her opening statement Monday, lead prosecutor Fani Willis told jurors that Hall headed a “cleverly disguised, widespread conspiracy” that used the Atlanta Public School system as a criminal enterprise. With a mantra of “no excuses,” Hall set unrealistic targets and used standardized tests as the primary way to evaluate teachers, putting enormous pressure on them, Willis said.
More specifically, Willis told jurors, Hall tried to cover up test tampering at Deerwood Academy in 2008 by rejecting requests by her chief of staff and general counsel to correct a letter she sent state officials saying that APS investigations found no cheating occurred at Deerwood.
“That will make me look bad,” Hall told her aides, according to Willis. “She never corrects the lie — a cleverly disguised conspiracy.”
When it was his turn to talk to jurors, lawyer Sandy Wallack, who represents former teacher Dessa Curb, said, “The state gave a very nice opening in the trial of Beverly Hall. But Beverly Hall is not on trial here.”
During the first week of testimony, prosecutors called on the parent of a former student, an ex-principal and two teachers who provided testimony that could have been used against Hall if she were on trial.
So far, evidence and testimony have shown complaints about cheating were sent to Hall and the ring of administrators around her. And, the story goes, nothing was done to stop it. Moreover, those who blew the whistle on cheating were retaliated against, instilling a culture of fear and intimidation across the school system, prosecutors allege.
Former APS teacher Leah Cauley, who testified Wednesday, said she witnessed cheating during the administration of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test at C.W. Hill Elementary and disclosed it to other educators. After that, Cauley said, she received threatening letters in her school mailbox.
“The only way to make it right is to admit that you lied about the whole situation and maybe you won’t have to watch your back,” one letter said.
Cauley ultimately filed a formal report about the cheating. But APS investigators faulted her for waiting too long to submit her complaint, and Hall fired her.
In the courtroom, however, it was not lost on defense attorneys that Cauley’s testimony appeared to implicate none of the 12 defendants on trial, only Hall.
During cross-examination, Gerald Griggs, who represents former Dobbs Elementary teacher Angela Williamson, asked Cauley to stand up from her seat in the witness box. “Do you see Dr. Hall in this room?” he asked.
“No, ” Cauley replied.
Proving a conspiracy takes a lot of work, which is one reason the prosecution has lined up an estimated 200 witnesses. Former prosecutors say the strategy makes sense given the widespread nature of the allegations. Cheating was alleged at 44 schools, and, the logic goes, that kind of activity would require centralized coordination.
But with Hall out of the picture, for now at least, the prosecution’s job is a lot harder.
“It’s difficult for the prosecution because the alleged ringleader is not present, so that gives the other defendants the opportunity to say ‘it’s not my fault; it’s her fault,’” said Aaron Danzig, a former federal prosecutor. “They point to the empty chair.”
Even with Hall present, the prosecution would have a tough case to make based on the known evidence so far, said attorney Bill Thomas, another former federal prosecutor. In all the heavy media saturation, he’s seen no smoking gun that would convince a jury she was culpable. Instead, he’s seen evidence that she was a demanding leader.
“Every leader of an organization that is charged with achieving results puts pressure on their people,” Thomas said. “That is not a crime.”
Of course, if there was indeed widespread cheating as a result of her standards, and she knew about it and did nothing to stop it, then that would be a crime, Thomas said.
“I think if she knew, she certainly would have responsibility to take some action,” he said. But he said that knowledge would be hard to prove.
On Monday, investigator Reginal Dukes is expected to take the stand as a key state witness.
Dukes, hired by the school district, conducted an investigation in 2006 at Parks Middle of allegations of test-cheating and other misconduct committed by Christopher Waller, the school’s principal.
Dukes found that test-cheating occurred and presented his final report to Hall and other top APS officials in May of that year, prosecutors have said. Yet Waller was never reprimanded or disciplined by his superiors and rampant test-cheating at Parks continued.
Hall’s former chief of staff Sharron Pitts and former APS general counsel Veleter Mazyck are expected to follow Dukes to the stand in the coming weeks and could provide even more damaging testimony against Hall.
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