Atlanta Public Schools teachers found guilty of intentional cheating by a licensing board may get a lighter punishment if they cooperated with state investigators, but principals and top administrators could be barred from the classroom.
The Professional Standards Commission, which licenses Georgia educators, took the first steps Wednesday to begin its inquiry into test tampering in the city's public schools. In July, an investigation commissioned by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue concluded cheating took place in 44 schools and implicated almost 180 educators, 82 who confessed.
In addition to the commission investigation, the educators -- who have already been barred from the classroom by APS -- still face possible criminal charges and termination from the school system.
Commissioners, relying extensively on evidence from the state investigation, will look into each case and decide over the next few months whether the educators named in the report are guilty of cheating or other ethical violations. Those found guilty could face sanctions ranging from a reprimand to loss of a teaching license.
But educators found guilty who cooperated with the probe could receive suspensions of 20 to 90 days if commissioners agree to recommendations from the state's Attorney General Office. For those who did not cooperate and are found guilty, state attorneys are recommending a two-year suspension for teachers and license revocation for principals and administrators.
"You're going to look at a range of allegations, and if you find cause there was intentional cheating -- where they erased answers and did it on purpose -- we would ask you to consider severe, uniform sanctions,” Rebecca Mick, a senior assistant attorney general, told the commission Wednesday.
State investigators conducted more than 2,100 interviews and examined more than 800,000 documents in what is likely the most wide-ranging investigation into test cheating in a public school district ever conducted in U.S. history. They relied on cooperation from teachers and school employees to piece together a detailed mosaic of how cheating infested the district.
The commission will start its probe into about 100 cases this month and an additional 60-70 cases next month. The cases of former Superintendent Beverly Hall and other high-ranking central office employees named in the report are expected to be considered in the second batch. .
The commission expects to start deciding cases next month and hopes to have all the cases resolved by January.
During the investigation, educators will have the chance to respond to the charges against them, said Michael McGonigle, director of legal services for the Georgia Association of Educators. But McGonigle said the commission should probe each case and not rely solely on the state investigation for evidence.
"I think sanctions have to be individually tailored based on the evidence on each case," he said.
The Code of Ethics for Educators forbids "falsifying, misrepresenting or omitting or erroneously reporting information submitted in the course of an official inquiry/investigation; information submitted to federal, state, local school districts and other governmental agencies; and information regarding the evaluation of students ..." like those taking the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.
The commission's decision can be appealed to an administrative law judge and then the Georgia Court of Appeals.
In addition to sanctions by the commission, those named in the report could be fired by APS or charged criminally by a Fulton County grand jury. The district is paying about a $1 million a month to employees on administrative leave while it decides when to begin termination hearings. A grand jury is waiting on documents from APS requested in an expansive subpoena.
APS educators and administrators face potential charges of giving false statements to investigators or altering public documents, both of which are felonies with punishment of up to 10 years in prison. School officials who submitted test scores that they knew were false also could face felony charges with penalties of up to five years in prison.
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