With the scope of a state investigation expanding almost by the day into evidence of wide-spread test tampering in Atlanta schools, city school board members are still at least a week away from hiring a search firm to find a replacement for outgoing Superintendent Beverly Hall.
Given that superintendent searches typically take about six months, a school district immersed in several ongoing crises may fall into the hands of an interim leader. And there is no obvious choices of who that may be.
Investigators told district officials last week they have received "serious" allegations of cheating that date back to 2004, according to documents filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court. "We shall continue to investigate those claims, with vigor," said one e-mail, offering no timetable to the inquiry's end.
Complicating things for the school board is its work to win back full accreditation. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put the district on probation in January because of infighting among board members. Facing a Sept. 30 deadline to right itself, the board has met every Monday since Jan. 24. The superintendent's search is included in its ongoing work.
Chairman Khaatim Sherrer El said Tuesday the board will charge its search firm with finding an interim candidate as it also looks for Hall's replacement. He said the board will pick a firm by March 14, although members have also discussed hiring the firm as soon as next week.
"We are launching the superintendent search on parallel tracks with the increasing reality that we will need to consider hiring an interim," El said. "[Atlanta Public Schools] does not need a caretaker in an interim but instead someone who can help us build on our progress and work with the greater community on addressing the challenges before us."
Kathy Augustine, a potential internal candidate as the system's second-in-command, became embroiled in controversy last week when a recording surfaced of her encouraging principals in October to push parents and students to take sides in a deepening rift on the school board.
A district spokesman said Tuesday that Augustine retained full standing in her job. Still, her comments did not endear her to board members.
Externally, there has been a demonstration of more people backing away from the job than embracing it.
When parents began to circulate an online post last month by Atlanta Progressive News that said the city housing authority's Renee Glover was rumored to be considering the job, Glover's spokesman immediately issued a public denial..
Hall announced in November that she would step down June 30, when her current contract expires. By then, she will have marked her 12th year as Atlanta superintendent in a tenure that won praise nationally but soured under the glare of the state's cheating investigation.
Investigators accused the system this week of misleading them, hiding evidence and retaliating against a witness, allegations that involve a high-ranking school official who claimed Hall and Augustine had approved of a principal's demotion after she complained about the official's behavior.
State investigators have repeatedly chastised Atlanta officials for allegedly intimidating potential whistleblowers. Patrick Crabtree, an elementary school teacher who is president of the Atlanta Association of Educators, said teachers at five schools interviewed recently by investigators reported to him that their principals called a regional superintendent when they declined to talk without a lawyer present.
Crabtree, whose group has helped find legal help for teachers caught up in the probe, has said repeatedly that investigators should focus on school leaders and their tactics, instead of rank and file staff, because of pressure on teachers to meet academic targets.
"The principals said, ‘I have to report this to the executive director because you are not cooperating,'" Crabtree said. The teachers "felt very intimidated for exercising their rights. My question is, why did the executive directors need to know this?"
Hall declined comment on Monday, as her school board instructed its lawyers to seek to settle the dispute with state investigators.
Hall's contract allows the board to dismiss her for cause as outlined by state law, including incompetency, insubordination or willful neglect of duties. Otherwise, the contract requires a three-fourths vote -- seven of the board's nine members -- to initiate what would be a buy-out of the remaining months of her tenure.
The cost to do that, however, could stretch beyond $100,000. The contract entitles Hall to severance pay that includes salary and benefits.
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