First Atlanta cheating trial begins
Atlanta educators cheated, tried to cover up what they’d done and demoted those who threatened to expose them, the prosecution said Friday in opening statements of the first trial connected to the scandal.
Tamara Cotman, a former regional Atlanta Public Schools regional director, is charged with influencing a witness who reported that Cotman instructed principals to tell investigators looking into cheating to “go to hell.”
The witness, one of the principals in the meeting with Cotman, was later harassed and transferred to a lower-paying job, said Senior Assistant District Attorney Clint Rucker.
“This case is about hiding the truth,” Rucker told the jury. “It’s the truth about what was going on in the classrooms in our schools here in the Atlanta public school system: There was cheating going on.”
Cotman is one of 35 former Atlanta teachers and administrators who were indicted for racketeering and other alleged crimes.
They allegedly changed students’ incorrect answers on standardized tests so they could get bonuses and keep their jobs.
Rucker said Cotman pressured principals and teachers to cheat, and she looked the other way when questions were raised.
Cotman looked straight ahead during the opening statement and first witnesses, showing no emotion. Her attorney, Benjamin Davis, told the court he’d delay his opening until later in the trial.
Cotman is accused of then harassing former Scott Elementary School Principal Jimmye Hawkins, who attended the meeting where Cotman handed out memos for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation labeled, “go to hell,” according to the prosecution.
After the school board received an anonymous complaint about the meeting, Cotman targeted Hawkins by moving her to a lower-paying teaching position in a different school, Rucker said.
Cotman has denied the accusations.
The trial of the other 34 educators charged with crimes is scheduled for May 2014, but Cotman is going first because Davis filed a demand for a speedy trial.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
