Tabeeka Jordan said didn't grow up wanting to be a teacher.
But somehow, she ended up in public education, a career she came to embrace. Now the former Deerwood Academy assistant principal is fighting to keep her job and any prospect of working in education again.
On Wednesday, a tribunal of former educators began deliberating to determine if Jordan should be fired. Atlanta Public Schools has accused Jordon of using her position to orchestrate cheating on state standardized tests, charges Jordan denies.
The tribunal has five days to accept or reject the district's recommendation.
Jordan, who was assistant principal at Deerwood Academy in 2009 when a gubernatorial review flagged about 48 percent of its classes for having a high number of wrong-to-right answer changes, is one of about 80 educators the district is trying to fire in the aftermath of the cheating scandal that erupted in 2009.
In its letter of charges to Jordan, the district alleges that she directed and witnessed cheating on the 2008 and 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. Jordan, the district says, hired a retired educator to serve as Deerwood's testing coordinator and directed her to check and change student answers to make sure the school met federal annual yearly progress goals.
The former testing coordinator, Lavonia Ferrell, and a former Deerwood teacher, Margaret Merkerson, both testified on May 22 that they changed answers at Jordan's direction.
On Wednesday, however, Jordan said she did not recruit the testing coordinator and did not direct or know about any cheating by her or by Merkerson.
"If I had known back then that they were cheating, I certainly would have told," Jordan said.
The percentage of Deerwood students who performed well on the CRCT improved dramatically in 2008, prompting questions from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter.
Jordan said she didn't appreciate the notion that the students' performance -- and, by extension, the performance of their educators -- was being questioned by the AJC.
"I was kind of offended," she said. "Who was questioning all the hard work that we put into it?"
Jordan said she told the reporter that Deerwood had offered smaller class sizes and focused intensely on preparing students for the CRCT. The school was not included in the newspaper's December 2008 story on possible cheating on the CRCT.
"The district was satisfied and so was (the reporter)," Jordan said.
But that wasn't the end of it.
The paper kept digging, and a subsequent review by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement identified what it determined were statistically improbable number of wrong-to-right answer changes on the 2009 CRCT in some of the school's classes. In some instances, the odds that those answer changes were made without adult intervention was no more than one in a million. In other instances, the odds were no more than one in a trillion.
Charles Bachman, an attorney who represented APS in Jordan's tribunal, said she should be held accountable for cheating at Deerwood.
"As an assistant principal, you have an obligation to make sure things like this don't happen," Bachman said. "She didn't do that."
WHERE THEY STAND
About 80 educators suspected of cheating remain on the Atlanta Public School district's payroll, including teachers and administrators. They can make their case to keep their jobs before an APS tribunal. Once the hearings are held and terminations are recommended, the matter goes to the school board for approval. Once approved by the board, the employee is terminated immediately. This happens regardless of their intent to appeal, APS spokesman Keith Bromery said.
WHERE CASES STAND
Number of educators whose recommended firing has been upheld by a tribunal: 7
Number of letters sent to educators outlining charges and the school district's intent to terminate: 50
Number of educators notified that their contracts will not be renewed; some will have the option of a hearing: 78.
Source: APS
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