One by one, they swore to tell the truth. One by one, they sat in a witness chair and told a similar tale of suggestion, persuasion and pressure.
During the first day Friday of what is expected to be a two-day tribunal, former and current teachers at Atlanta's Usher Elementary School pointed a collective finger of blame at Donald Bullock Friday as the mastermind behind test cheating at that school.
Bullock's attorney, Daniel Digby, said his client did nothing wrong.
Atlanta Public Schools, however, laid out a 16-point letter of charges against Bullock, who served as testing coordinator at Usher in 2009, when students there took the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. APS is seeking to fire Bullock and nearly 100 other educators who were implicated in a landmark test-cheating investigation. They are on paid leave and costing the district about $1 million a month. Overall, 180 APS employees were accused of test cheating.
The allegations against Bullock are the first detailed descriptions of deliberate, organized cheating beyond Parks Middle School, where the investigation turned up allegations of the most egregious cheating. At Parks, teachers told investigators of answer-changing parties among other wrongdoing.
At Usher Elementary, Bullock, according to testimony, collected completed tests then gave them back to some teachers so they could change wrong answers to right. Some teachers said Bullock pressured them to cheat. Others said they refused to cooperate.
Stacey Smith, a former third-grade teacher in her second year on the job, testified she took the tests from Bullock and spent 30 to 45 minutes changing incorrect answers to correct ones.
Smith said Bullock used what he knew of her -- that she had limited experience, that she needed her job to offer financial assistance to extended family members -- to pressure her to change answers.
"I was approached and asked if I wanted to make sure that my children did well," Smith said, pausing frequently to compose herself or wipe away tears. "I didn't really answer. And then (Bullock) was there with my tests. He knew a lot about me. He kind of used that as leverage. He said I could be replaced. I was a non-tenured teacher."
Other teachers shared similar stories. Diane Green, who resigned her position, said she knew, through 35 years of teaching experience, that changing answers on a test was wrong. Mary Ware said she wiped away a half century of teaching with a few strokes of her eraser.
They said they regret what they did. They said they've accepted responsibility for what they did. And they said they want Bullock to do the same.
"It's important for us all to be accountable for our actions, no matter the consequences," Smith said.
When the cheating scandal broke and APS's Blue Ribbon panel investigators asked teachers about cheating, Smith said she lied to them.
"I didn't want to get anyone in trouble," she said. "I thought if I denied everything, it would just go away."
But it didn't. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations conducted its own investigation and interviewed Smith and other teachers. Investigators told the teachers they could lose their job and be criminally prosecuted if they lied about cheating.
Teachers then laid out what they described as Bullock's role in cheating at Usher.
Digby pressed the teachers on their lies during the Blue Ribbon panel investigation, and he elicited from Smith another possible motivation for her to change test answers -- her desire to move from a position teaching the third grade to one where she would teach first-graders.
Smith said her principal told her the performance of her students on the tests would be a factor in the decision on whether she would get the assignment change she sought.
Bullock said nothing during Friday's hearing. He wrote notes occasionally and frequently whispered in his lawyer's ear.
Teachers taking the stand said Bullock was persuasive.
Still, Ware said she had a choice.
"I'm very, very sorry that I did not say no," she said. "I am admitting what I did. It was wrong."
Two other teachers, Stephanie Warner and Joe Sanders, said they also received entreaties from Bullock to keep their students' tests. Bullock, they said, never directly invited them to change answers, but they declined to keep the tests.
They still have their jobs. That Smith does not weighs heavily upon her, she said.
"I'm 29 years old and I lost everything I worked so hard for because of one mistake," Smith said. "I wear this scarlet letter every single day."
Ninety five Atlanta educators suspected of cheating remain on the payroll, including teachers and administrators. They must make their case to keep their jobs before an APS tribunal. . Once the hearings are held and terminations recommended, the matter goes to the school board for approval. Once approved by the board, the employees are terminated immediately. This happens regardless of their intent to appeal, said Atlanta public schools spokesman Keith Bromery.
Educators can appeal the decision to the state board of education. Here is the breakdown of where the district stands with these employees:
Number of final resignations/retirements that have been received since late February: 24
Number of tribunal hearings that have been completed: 2
Number of letters sent to educators outlining charges and the district’s intent to terminate: 34
Number of hearings still scheduled: 21
Number of employees who have resigned or retired since receiving charge letters: 11
Number of employees recommended for termination but not yet acted upon by the school board: 1
Number of employees whose whose resignation is pending: 1
Number of employees who declared an intent to retire but not yet made it official: 1
They also face possible sanctions from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, the agency that licenses teachers.
On Thursday, The PSC recommended 19 revocations of licenses and 48 suspensions. One suspension was for one year, 47 were for two years.
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