Teresa Bell Friday became the second Atlanta Public Schools teacher to be cleared by a panel of educators in the far-reaching school cheating scandal.
A three-person tribunal ruled APS had not made its case against Bell, who was one of the teachers accused of changing students' test answers. GBI agents testified F.L. Stanton Elementary School teacher Bell was "visibly shaken" and appeared to be lying during an interview with investigators when she denied erasing and correcting students' test answers. The tribunal said that was insufficient proof she did anything wrong.
Friday's decision prompted hugs and kisses and "praise the lords" from Bell's family and friends in a small hearing room at APS headquarters.
"The thing that made this so devastating was I had no role in any cheating at all," Bell said after the hearing."My whole career as a teacher has been about student achievement. I'm glad to be reinstated, but there are other educators that have been falsely accused as well. I hope they receive the same justice I received today."
The Atlanta school board will vote on whether Bell should be reinstated. (The board recommended the other cleared teacher, Angela Williamson of Dobbs Elementary, be reinstated.)
Bell is one of about 180 educators accused of cheating in a state investigative report released last year. APS since has been working to fire implicated employees, but several educators, including Bell, have job protection rights, entitling them a hearing before a tribunal before they are terminated.
Friday was the second day of Bell's hearing. The first day on June 29 stretched seven tense hours as APS presented its case, based primarily on the testimony of two GBI agents, Janet Rhodes and Kristine Smalley, who said Bell denied wrongdoing, but acted guilty.
"She talked to us very calmly throughout the interview," Rhodes testified. "But she became visibly shaken when she was confronted with questions about changed answers."
Smalley testified that during questioning by the agents Bell "displayed characteristics that, for me, are indicative of lying."
APS attorney Glin Darien said during the first part of the hearing that Bell "stayed late after school hours even though there was no reason to stay late. Once the halls were absent of students, she and [Principal Marlo Barber] sat in Barber's office, erasing answers."
According to the state investigation, three separate witnesses saw Bell's car at the school after hours during test week along with her principal's. The witness thought it was unusual. Investigators concluded that Bell stayed at the school after hours and erased answers on exams.
Bell denied being at the school, and produced documents to show she wasn't there on some days.
In the June hearing Bell's attorney, Borquaye A. Thomas, sought to shoot holes in the agents' testimony during cross-examination, questioning their memories and conclusions.
There were no such fireworks at Friday's hearing, which ended after just one APS witness testified and Thomas moved that the case be dismissed.
APS attorney Darien sought to convince hearing officer Hugh Dorsey III to let the case go forward so that Thomas would produce defense witnesses that Darien could have a crack at during cross-examination, especially Bell.
"Obviously this case is not over," Darien argued. "Hypothetically, under cross examination, Ms. Bell may admit the charges."
But Bell never testified because the tribunal ruled that prosecutors hadn't produced "sufficient evidence" to find that Bell changed scores on students' tests and adjourned the hearing.
In June, 12 educators implicated in the report were allowed to return to work after Superintendent Erroll Davis said there was "insufficient evidence" against them. Lawyers for some of the accused teachers questioned the thoroughness of the state investigation, but investigators said they stand by their report.
The state report concluded 83 percent of F.L Stanton's classes had so many wrong-to-right exam erasures that school officials must have been cheating, and Bell was one of three educators expected to be brought before the tribunal, which started hearings in the spring.
Hearings for two other F.L Stanton educators, Christi Wagner-Giddens and Principal Barber, are planned but not yet scheduled, said APS spokeman Keith Bromery, who declined to comment on Friday's ruling.
APS UPDATE
2 Number of educators whose recommended firing was not upheld by a tribunal.
11 Number of educators whose recommended firing has been upheld by a tribunal.
12 Number of educators recently notified they will be reinstated back to classrooms.
30 Approximate number of educators named in the investigation who are challenging efforts to fire them.
127 Approximate number of educators named in the investigation who resigned or retired.
Source: Atlanta Public Schools
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