A human side of APS scandal

When I walked into the Center for Learning and Leadership in downtown Atlanta, at first I was unsure of where to go.

I was at the Atlanta Public Schools headquarters because I wanted to sit in on one of the “tribunals” APS has been conducting as part of the arduous process of disciplining the teachers and administrators accused in the cheating scandal.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported on these tribunals and the many other events in the aftermath of the scandal.

That day’s tribunal was for Vanessa Jackson, the former testing coordinator at Slater Elementary School.

According to an APS official, Jackson was an instructional specialist at Slater with an annual salary of $67,000. In that position she worked with teachers to improve student instruction. During the 2009 CRCT testing season, she was assigned as testing coordinator for the school, a role she’d also had in previous years.

A “charge letter,” which APS Superintendent Erroll Davis has sent to each staffer the district wants to fire, laid out the case against Jackson. She was recommended for firing because of “willful neglect of duties, immorality and other good and sufficient cause.”

In the state’s report on the cheating scandal, investigators said Jackson “knew about cheating” and “knew the teachers were changing answers.”

The state investigators said that 30 percent of Slater’s 99 classrooms were flagged for suspicious numbers of wrong-to-right erasures.

On this day, Jackson would face the tribunal, made of three retired educators from other school districts and a hearing officer, who was in charge of the proceedings.

After a moment of confusion, I found the room where the tribunal was scheduled to take place thanks to a handwritten sign.

The tribunal was set up like a makeshift courtroom — in the same room in which the school board meets.

And the process is a lot like a trial, with attorneys for APS presenting the case and an attorney defending the teacher.

Each side calls witnesses, who swear to tell the truth and face questioning from the attorneys on both sides. Members of the tribunal also ask questions.

There’s a court reporter recording every word. On the day I went, she was asked a couple of times to read back previous testimony when the attorneys disagreed about something.

Teachers and others accused in the scandal face three different tracks of justice. The APS tribunals determine whether or not they’ll be fired. They also face possible loss of their licenses as educators from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. And, most seriously, many may be charged with crimes.

I was told that some of the wrangling during the tribunals — which are sparsely attended by the public but often attract defense attorneys — is done with an eye toward defending teachers who may face criminal charges. After all, it’s one thing to lose your job, but quite another to be convicted of a crime and face the possibility of jail time.

At this tribunal, the APS attorneys questioned Jackson repeatedly. She steadfastly denied that she was aware of cheating or that any cheating had been reported to her.

One teacher from Slater testified that Jackson had to know cheating was going on. She described a scene where teachers gathered to erase “stray marks” on students’ tests, but were changing answers instead.

In the most alarming and troubling moment of the tribunal that day, former Slater teacher Nettie Walker, who has resigned, acknowledged that she cheated. The first-grade teacher said she pointed out answers to students, and she corrected answers on student tests.

Walker testified as a witness in the school district’s effort to fire Jackson. But it was remarkable and disturbing to see and hear a teacher publicly say she had, in fact, cheated.

Jackson’s hearing continued last week but no decision has been reached.

The scene at a tribunal provides a strong reminder that real people are caught up in this scandal and the efforts to overcome it.