The first day on the job for a former Atlanta deputy superintendent who was hired to lead a suburban Dallas school district could be her last.
Kathy Augustine has been linked to criminal and ethical violations in the Atlanta Public Schools' cheating scandal. DeSoto Independent School District trustees could vote Monday night to fire Augustine.
Augustine, who used her credentials on improving test scores at APS to land her $188,000-a-year job , is scheduled to assume the superintendent's post Monday. . The board's Monday night meeting agenda calls for the discussion of the APS investigation and the possible "termination of contract of employment of (the) superintendent."
Parents are preparing to pack the board meeting and demand that Augustine be let go.
"I am so angry at those board of trustees members who voted thiswoman in under this cloud," said parent Jeff Sherels, a former teacher's union leader who has a son at DeSoto High School. "If she lasts past Monday, they will witness some protests that will pale in comparison to anything that has occurred in DeSoto ISD. My advice to her is resign, clear up this mess and move forward... Do the noble thing."
A national search firm recommended Augustine, who has a doctorate from Harvard University, as a top candidate to lead the 9,000-student DeSoto district. At APS, Augustine earned $188,364 to oversee curriculum for the 49,000-student Atlanta district. She was interviewed and offered the DeSoto job even as Georgia special investigators were determining how Augustine and other administrators and teachers may be linked to cheating at APS on the 2009 Georgia Criterion Referenced-Competency Test.
DeSoto ISD board president Warren Seay, Jr. said Sunday that the board was aware of the investigation, but had no idea when Augustine was approved in May that she would be named in the probe, which found evidence of cheating at 44 campuses, involving 178 teachers and principals.
“She’s extremely talented and qualified,” said Seay, who supported Augustine for superintendent in a vote that was split due to concerns about the Atlanta investigation. “At the time, this report was not released.”
But school board member Sandra Wheeler said the board knew enough to proceed with caution: “We discourage our kids from cheating and yet you want to bring in someone who is allegedly involved in cheating. What does that tell our kids? What it shows is if I cheat, I can go out and get a $188,000 job. It’s a horrible message to send to the city, the county and to the country.’’
Augustine, in a statement released by her Atlanta attorney, denied the cheating allegations and said she confronted the charges with DeSoto officials. "During my interviews with the DeSoto Board of Trustees, I was candid about the ongoing investigation as well as the 12 years of accomplishments according to national and state measures in the Atlanta Public Schools," she said.
Augustine was accused of "illegally" withholding public documents and "aiding and abetting" former Atlanta superintendent Beverly Hall in "falsifying, misrepresenting or erroneously reporting the evaluation of students" on the 2009 CRCT, according to the investigation released last week. Augustine was also accused of making "false statements" about a testing security breach at Deerwood Academy where a confession on cheating was obtained. Augustine was APS' deputy superintendent of instruction and curriculum, and according to the report, "either knew or should have known that cheating and other misconduct was occurring in schools in the APS system."
"I assure you that I was neither involved in nor aware of that kind of behavior," Augustine said in her statement. "I care too much about children and their education to falsify, misrepresent, omit or erroneously report information.”
Seay decided to call a special board meeting about her contract after reading the APS investigation. Augustine's contract says she can be terminated for immorality and falsifying records.
“The agenda speaks for speaks for itself,’’ Seay said. He would not share how he will vote on the matter. “We are doing our due diligence to sort these things out. We have heard from several people. They are expecting us to do what is best for DeSoto."
Wheeler said she had been urging the board all along not to hire Augustine. She Googled information about the APS investigation during the interview process.
“Where can you go in America and get a position such as this if you are under investigation?" she said. "You can’t be the CEO of any company. You can’t be a police officer. You can’t be a teacher. You can’t even be a janitor.”
Augustine, however, said lessons she learned during the APS cheating probe will prove helpful to the district. DeSoto ISD is launching a new standardized test in the fall.
"From this painful experience I have learned a hard lesson that I will apply in DeSoto ISD," Augustine said. "... Our testing protocols must reflect best-in-class security measures."
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