Rocky start to cheating inquiry

Just days into the effort, the nonprofit and task force leading the Atlanta Public Schools’ test-tampering investigation are already on the defensive.

The two entities are supposed to ensure that the investigation into alleged cheating at more than two-thirds of Atlanta’s elementary and middle schools is fair and independent.

But Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall and her deputy superintendent sit on the board of the nonprofit, leading five state lawmakers to complain last week that the group is too closely tied to district administration.

The task force drew fire, too, after announcing it would meet in private. That move surprised even two school board members.

Questions about who has a vote, what constitutes “independence,” and which decisions will be made in public are swirling as the groups struggle to sort out their roles. The undertaking has already involved more than a dozen civic and business leaders beyond the school district.

Last month, Georgia officials ordered local school systems to thoroughly investigate suspicious erasures on state tests at 191 schools statewide by school year’s end. The deadline is especially daunting for Atlanta, which had 58 schools in question — by far the most of any district statewide.

The Atlanta school board said two weeks ago that the Atlanta Education Fund, a nonprofit that supports the district, would head the investigation.

Then, last week, the school board endorsed creating a “Blue Ribbon Commission,” a task force that would select a contractor — or contractors — to do the investigation and recommend how to tighten test security. The nonprofit education fund will provide staff and money to support the work.

On Monday, the school board plans to vote on a formal resolution setting out its relationship with the task force.

The panel, however, already held its first meeting in private Wednesday and stepped into its first controversy. Chairman Gary Price, market managing partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the group would provide regular updates, but meetings would not be public.

“That is more than problematic,” Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), said later that day. “They are doing public business.”

Transparency is crucial to gaining the public’s confidence, said Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta). “We don’t want the public to leave this process wondering who covered what up? Or if anything was covered up,” she said. “And there’s always this doubt when the public isn’t involved.”

School board member Yolanda Johnson, an attorney, said state law allows groups to discuss certain matters in private, such as personnel issues. She said she didn’t know why else the task force would shut out the public.

She said she’d like to hear its reasons, but added, “I think it’s important that we do lead this process. I don’t know that it’s quite appropriate for anybody there to make such a decision without having any real input from the board.”

Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, said the task force is likely covered by the state’s Open Records and Open Meetings laws because it is doing official business for a governing body.

On Friday, Price said the task force would reconsider closing its meetings. The group is consulting a lawyer and should make a final decision this week, he said.

Price said the panel wants to be transparent, yet still handle sensitive issues — such as those regarding district staff — swiftly and appropriately. “There’s no motivation to not be fully public and transparent,” he said.

Questions also surfaced last week about the task force’s creation and membership.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber, the nonprofit fund and the school board together chose who would serve on the panel, school board and nonprofit representatives said.

Superintendent Hall is on the nonprofit fund board, but not the task force. The 27-member nonprofit board also includes five others closely connected to the district: Hall’s deputy superintendent, a teacher and three current or former school board members.

School board Chairwoman LaChandra Butler Burks is the only one of them to also serve on the task force. In total, seven nonprofit board members serve on the 15-member task force.

The chamber has a presence on both panels as well. At least seven nonprofit board members have also worked with the chamber. At least five task force members have been involved with the business group.

State Sen. Fort said that the chamber has been a big supporter of Hall.

“It seems the independence of the investigation could be compromised by the interlocking relationship between the chamber, AEF and this task force,” he said. “Can it be independent if the major promoters of the superintendent are controlling the process?”

The chamber has supported Hall, Price said, because she has worked hard to reform the system and “reforming Atlanta Public Schools is good for business.” Burks said the task force is a diverse cross-section of community members and is distinct from the nonprofit.

John Rice, a General Electric vice chairman who is chair of the fund board and a member of the task force, said he takes the criticism about independence personally. “It’s ludicrous to think that I would engage in something like this and not want the facts to come out,” he said.

GE has invested millions in the district through a grant, he added. “I’m not there to help somebody suppress cheating. If it’s there, I want to find it and fix it.”

State lawmakers have also complained about how decisions are unfolding. State Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta) said it was inappropriate for the nonprofit and task force to take steps before a formal school board vote. “They put the cart before the horse,” he said.

But Burks emphasized the school board is leading the process. “The board is the one who’s asking this Blue Ribbon Commission to do this work and to report directly back to the board,” she said.

Deadlines loom for all involved. Students take the state Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in April, and the task force must recommend new test security measures before then. “We have to move fast; we can’t wait forever,” Rice said. The groups must work faster than the school board typically can, he said.

This is the second time the nonprofit fund has led an investigation into potential testing improprieties. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a story in October detailing suspicious scores at a dozen district schools. Two experts commissioned by the fund planned to issue a report in January.

One, Andrew Porter, dean of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, didn’t finish in part because of delays obtaining data, fund President Bill McCargo said. He said Porter has expanded his analysis to include the state’s erasure findings and is being paid $66,000.