State investigators have won their fight with Atlanta Public Schools over whether the district should halt its inquiry into inflammatory comments by a high-ranking school official.
Fulton County Judge Doris Downs — and representatives of the district and state investigators — signed a consent order Tuesday in which the district promised to drop its investigation of allegations that Tamara Cotman, a regional superintendent, suggested a dozen principals tell GBI agents to “go to hell.”
The order instructs the district to “cease and desist from any further investigation of the November 17, 2010 meeting of Atlanta Public Schools principals held by Tamara Cotman, or any matters related thereto, until further order of this court.”
Atlanta school board members voted unanimously to seek the consent order on Monday, the day after another judge approved a temporary restraining order directing the district to end its inquiry.
On Tuesday, E. Righton Johnson, an attorney who works with the special investigators, said “the special investigators are pleased the parties could agree that APS would cease its investigation of the meeting.”
The dispute flared last week after news reports that Cotman and another top Atlanta schools official had disparaged the special investigation, which Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered last year after rejecting the district’s own attempts to investigate allegations of widespread cheating on 2009 state tests.
The three special investigators have repeatedly told the district not to investigate cheating-related matters because the effort would involve interviewing the same witnesses and would interfere with the state investigation.
But last Friday, district lawyers said the school system would not halt its investigation because it had the right to examine its employees’ conduct and discipline them.
The special investigators sought the restraining order over the weekend.
In legal filings, they claimed district officials misled them, hid documents and retaliated against a witness to the Cotman meeting.
On Tuesday, Cotman’s lawyer, George Lawson, denied that Cotman retaliated against any employees.
“Ms. Cotman does not conduct her affairs in such a manner that she has to retaliate against anyone, for there was no reason for her to retaliate against this person,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Everything Ms. Cotman did was according to policy and procedure.”
The restraining order was dissolved with the signing of the new consent order.
If the special investigators become concerned about the district’s compliance, they can seek recourse through a judge.
Staff writer Alan Judd contributed to this article.
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