Former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall "most definitely did not know of any widespread cheating" on standardized tests in 2009 or any other year, her lawyer said in a statement issued Wednesday.
A day after special investigators released a report with a scathing assessment of Hall's tenure, the ex-superintendent said there was no direct evidence to show she knew widespread cheating on the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests had occurred. Hall is out of town on a pre-arranged trip, according to her attorney, Richard Deane. The New York Times reported that Hall left for Hawaii on Tuesday, the same day the investigative report was released by Gov. Nathan Deal.
The voluminous report found that 178 educators, including 38 principals, had participated in cheating. The report also concluded that Hall knew or should have known that cheating was occurring and that Hall and her top aides ignored, buried, destroyed or altered complaints about misconduct and claimed ignorance of wrongdoing.
"Apparently, not one of the 82 persons who allegedly ‘confessed' to cheating told the investigators that Dr. Hall at any time instructed, encouraged or condoned cheating," Richard Deane, Hall's attorney, said in a statement. "The report’s conclusion that Dr. Hall actually knew of any such cheating is based entirely on supposition. The further conclusion that Dr. Hall 'should have known' rests on negative inferences from selective, circumstantial evidence."
The certification Hall issued for the 2009 CRCT "was based on her honest belief that test protocols and security procedures had been followed and that those involved had acted appropriately," Deane's statement said. "Although the Investigators accuse Dr. Hall of failing to cooperate fully with their efforts, they do not cite anything that Dr. Hall herself did in that regard, nor do they cite evidence to show that any so-called ‘obstruction' resulted from any direction on her part. We deny that Dr. Hall has engaged in any intentional wrongdoing whatsoever."
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