Two Atlanta Public Schools teachers accused of cheating in an expansive state investigative report have been cleared and are back in the classroom.
Kiatonya Wormley of Miles Elementary and Lori Dewberry of Jackson Elementary were allowed to return to work after state investigators notified the district there was not enough evidence to punish them for academic fraud.
Dewberry returned to Jackson, while Wormley was transferred to Kimberly Elementary, school officials said.
Attempts to reach the educators were unsuccessful.
“We have said that as these cases run their course and as people are cleared of any wrongdoing, that on a case by case basis they will be placed back to work. We are following through on that commitment,” APS spokesman Keith Bromery said.
The reversal doesn't mean the report's remaining findings are flawed, said former state Attorney General Mike Bowers, one the special investigators who worked on the probe.
About 180 educators implicated in the report, including five high-ranking administrators, could lose their license to teach in Georgia and some may also face criminal charges and termination.
"We were trying to do justice, but to be just," Bowers said. "Where we are shown we have made a mistake, or read things incorrectly, we are open to revisions. But that cuts both ways."
Three additional educators were implicated after the report's July release, Bowers said.
Investigators said they do not expect more educators to be added or removed from the list. But they have said all along their investigation didn't capture every instance of cheating, which reportedly went on as long as a decade in the district. The investigation came after a series of stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raised questions about improbable gains in test scores.
The report said cheating took place in 44 schools. More than 80 educators confessed. All of those named in the report were placed on paid administrative leave by the district.
According to the report, Wormley admitted she erased incorrect answer choices. Dewberry told investigators she may have accidentally used voice inflection to prompt students during test time.
Special investigator Bob Wilson, who also worked on the case, said questions came up regarding these two teachers, but he couldn't recall what specific information led to the change in their status. But, he said, after reviewing the evidence investigators felt comfortable the two teachers should be removed from the list.
"We were thorough and careful to double-check everything. And this is the result -- two people were removed from the list, and three added," he said.
Michael McGonigle, legal services director for the Georgia Association of Educators, said APS made the right decision by reinstating the teachers. He maintains the report has inaccuracies.
"The report paints in these broad strokes," he said. "And now we have two confirmed cases where, upon review, the report was unsubstantiated, legally speaking."
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