An Atlanta teacher accused of cheating says she's ready to defend herself against claims she changed student answers.
Camille Neely was a third-grade teacher at Gideons Elementary, where a special state investigation claims widespread cheating took place in 2009 and other years. Atlanta Public Schools is trying to fire Neely for allegedly changing answers on state exams and lying about her involvement to special investigators.
Neely attended a hearing Friday to defend herself and fight for her job, but after hours of preliminary deliberations, the hearing was postponed until an undetermined future date. In the meantime, her attorney said he plans to subpoena former Superintendent Beverly Hall to testify in Neely's defense.
"I did not cheat. I'm here to defend myself," Neely told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I could have given up and resigned, but I am not going to. I never changed a single answer."
State investigators said there was a schoolwide conspiracy at Gideons to erase and change answers that was orchestrated by the principal and testing coordinator. Several fifth-grade teachers allegedly gathered to cheat at one educator’s Douglas County home.
Neely admitted to receiving answer keys from a testing coordinator and using those sheets to check student answers, according to state investigators. But Neely told investigators she didn’t change answers because her students did well on the exam.
All of Neely’s classes were flagged for high wrong-to-right erasures, according to the report. But she could not explain to state investigators why that was the case.
At Friday's hearing attorneys did allow one witness to testify: GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eve Rodgers talked about her interview with Neely during the investigation. Her testimony supported the claims in the report.
Neely's attorney, Michael King, maintained the 20-year teaching veteran did not knowingly commit any testing violations.
Under Hall's leadership, an earlier investigation prior to the state's probe was conducted into cheating that included Gideons Elementary, King said. Some educators were singled out for further investigation, but Neely was not one of them.
King wants Hall to testify about that investigation, but he said the likelihood he will be able to summon her is slim, especially if she is out of state and cannot be served with the subpoena.
"Hall can testify that my client was not one of those identified as changing answers," he said. "The administration had suspicion there was some cheating going on, especially at Gideons. But my client was not one of those identified."
Atlanta Public Schools is in the process of holding termination hearings to get some 90 educators accused of cheating off the payroll. As of late April, two educators had been terminated after a tribunal hearing and 50 intent-to-terminate letters had been sent to accused educators.
State investigators claim about 180 educators were involved in cheating in 44 Atlanta schools.
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