Atlanta Public Schools trial: Day 25
Testimony in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial was halted for more than two hours Wednesday morning because one of the jurors had to check on her son, who had had a seizure.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter allowed a deputy to drive the juror to go see her son at the hospital. The juror later returned to court and testimony resumed in the early afternoon.
Tameka Butler-Grant, a former Dobbs Elementary School teacher, was on the witness stand for the entire day, giving testimony against two of the 12 defendants on trial: former regional supervisor Michael Pitts and former Dobbs Elementary principal Dana Evans.
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 2008. The newspaper continued to dig in the years that followed, and eventually special investigators appointed by the governor exposed widespread cheating in the 50,000-student APS system.
The trial is the latest chapter in that coverage. Jury selection started on Aug. 11 and dragged on for six weeks, opening arguments began on Sept. 29, and the trial’s end is nowhere in sight.
Butler-Grant will resume her testimony Thursday and is expected to be followed by witnesses testifying about cheating at Parks Middle School.
