A Fulton County judge ruled Friday he will not intervene in efforts to fire six Atlanta Public School principals implicated in a massive cheating investigation.
Attorneys for the six elementary principals wanted the judge to delay administrative proceedings against the principals until key evidence could be released. Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said at this point, it "wasn't his place" to intervene in the dismissal process.
"I am not going to start running the school board and Atlanta Public Schools," he said. "There is an administrative process that needs to go forward."
The district isn't planning to renew the expiring contracts of the six principals, all of whom were implicated in the 400-plus-page cheating investigation report released in July. The principals have job protection rights earned while they were teachers. That means the district doesn't have to promise them another principal position, but it does have to guarantee them a teaching contract, or show why they should be fired from the district completely.
Attorneys for the educators argued they can't get a fair dismissal hearing until important pieces of evidence are released — evidence that is now in the possession of District Attorney Paul Howard. A representative from Howard's office appeared in court Friday and said they are preparing to potentially indict the case, and releasing evidence could compromise the criminal investigation.
The attorneys also wanted access to the raw data from the test erasure analysis, so an independent review can be conducted. Wrong-to-right answer erasures on state exams were a critical guide during the cheating investigation. An expert witness called by attorneys for the educators testified he believed the analysis was scientifically invalid.
The six principals are: Marlo Barber of F.L. Stanton Elementary, Anthony Dorsey of Fickett Elementary, Tamarah Larkin-Currie of White Elementary, Mimi Robinson of Connally Elementary, Tonya Saunders of Toomer Elementary and Cheryl Twyman of West Manor Elementary. Most are accused of "failing in their responsibilities" as a principal because cheating allegedly went on during their watch.
Two are accused in the state report of more serious offenses — Barber of changing student answers and Saunders of instructing teachers to cheat. Their attorneys said there is no evidence to support those claims.
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