And now, she waits.
Vanessa Jackson's 12-year career in education and her good name in that field lie in the hands of three tribunal members now that the Atlanta Public School system has laid out its case that Jackson knew or should have known about cheating at Slater Elementary School when Jackson was testing coordinator there.
Jackson testified on her own behalf Friday that she did what was required of her and is not responsible for the actions of individual teachers who admitted that they changed student answers on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.
"I can't explain something I wasn't aware of," she said.
In some ways, Jackson's case has been similar to those of other educators whose jobs are in jeopardy in the aftermath of the standardized test cheating scandal that swept through APS. Some of them also said they didn't know cheating was taking place.
Tribunal members will begin deliberations in Jackson's case on Tuesday. Ordinarily, they would have five days to make a decision, but lawyers for Jackson and the school district waived that five-day requirement, giving tribunal members additional time to make a ruling if they determine they need it.
If two of the three tribunal members agree that Jackson knew or should have known about cheating at Slater, which the district says was "widespread" on the 2009 CRCT, she could lose her job. Jackson is on paid administrative leave.
So far, no APS educator who has faced a tribunal has found the vindication Jackson seeks. Just this week, two resigned rather than appear before the tribunal.
Jackson, however, showed no sign of timidity Friday. She calmly and confidently pushed back against the allegations against her, sparring with Sherry Culves, an attorney for APS, over whether she was ultimately responsible for testing security at Slater.
"She would have you believe that it's OK because she didn't know [about cheating]," Culves told tribunal members in her closing statement. "I submit to you that it is her job to know."
One former teacher at Slater, Nettie Walker, testified on May 11 that she changed student answers in the school's media center while Jackson and other administrators collected tests there. Another former teacher at Slater, Ellen Grant, admitted that she cheated in 2007 and in 2009.
Friday, however, several current and former teachers came to Jackson's defense, saying she was a stickler for test protocol and security.
"She followed policies and procedures," said Janice Hicks, a retired teacher who taught at Slater. "Both the principal and Mrs. Jackson were by the book."
The heart of Jackson's case centers on a pair of questions:
- Should a testing coordinator be responsible for cheating at a school if that coordinator did not encourage or know about it?
- Does having a high percentage of classes flagged for wrong-to-right answer changes mean someone cheated?
Jackson's lawyer, Borquaye Thomas, who bills himself as "the teacher's lawyer" on his website, said Jackson should not lose her job because others were willing to cheat.
He cross-examined APS associate superintendent Steve Smith, who worked as a principal in another district before coming to APS.
"Isn't it true you have had teachers terminated for something they should not have done?" Thomas asked.
"Yes," Smith said.
"Did you lose your job as principal because of what that teacher did?"
"No," Smith said.
APS's lawyers countered that preventing cheating was Jackson's central task.
"A testing coordinator who can not recognize cheating in her school is not worthy of the superintendent's confidence," Culves said.
An examination of erasures on the 2009 CRCT flagged 30 percent of classes at Slater for having a higher than normal number of wrong-to-right answer changes. Thomas said that does not automatically mean cheating occurred.
"To say cheating occurred in 30 percent of your classes is an assumption," he argued.
Jackson, supported at the tribunal by her brother and her husband, said she does know why classes at Slater were flagged.
"I can't give an explanation for the flagging," she said. "I'm not sure why it happened."
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