Remember our children. They were, and remain, the innocent victims of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
Keeping them in the forefront of civic consciousness will provide the most-fitting vantage point from which to assess, analyze and see through to conclusion the remaining portion of this sad affair. It will also outline the best path forward toward truth, reconciliation and, yes, justice.
All of which is important to remember as the remaining criminal trials of the APS cheating defendants lumber along. Chief among the defendants is former APS Superintendent Beverly Hall, who by all accounts is now gravely ill.
Given that leaders, at least in theory, are responsible for what happened during their watch, it’s natural that much attention has focused on Hall, her health and the prospect of whether the charges against her will ever be tried in a court of law. Hall’s cancer is said to be terminal. That sobering point may well be the only one on which prosecutors and defense attorneys agree.
Hall’s precarious health led Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter to delay until August the start of her trial on charges of allegedly engaging in a racketeering conspiracy to improperly boost student standardized test scores.
The gravity of her illness naturally elicits compassion from most anyone who does not have ice water flowing in their veins. For that reason, we agree with Baxter’s decision. It was the right call for humanity and for Hall.
A delay should not be confused with a verdict, however. Doing right by harmed children and those yet unborn requires that the trial begin as soon as humanly possible. Those who’ve called for a permanent halt to the proceedings on account of Hall’s health are no doubt sincere. But their heartfelt sentiment is gravely misguided, in our view.
Atlanta’s children, their parents and this entire metro area need comprehensive answers. They deserve to have the truth of this sordid matter revealed in its entirety. The destroyed careers, the cheated children and the damage heaped upon this great metro cry out for a full revelation of what really happened. And why.
Only then can we truly begin the journey toward resolution and rebuilding. And finding ways to ensure the likes of this scandal never happens again. Seeing the matter of Beverly Hall and other remaining defendants through to a final legal adjudication is a large part of that process.
Any doubters might consider the well-known verse from the New Testament Book of John: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Atlantans need to hear the remaining truth of what happened in the classrooms and offices of APS.
Not to excuse personal responsibility by any means, but we need to hear and absorb just how much pressure had to be leveraged against professionals in positions of trust to drive them to commit the actions of which they were later accused. The answers will not be pretty, but they need to become known.
We need to listen and accept that there are no easy, fast ways to reverse decades of struggle to adequately educate poor children. No amount of pithy slogans or sunny spreadsheet data is likely to alter that truth.
Driving real educational gains for society’s neediest youngsters can be done — must be done — but it is a long-haul task, not a quick fix.
Atlanta’s children deserve that much. They bore the personal harm in this case. Including learning from too many grownups that it was OK to cheat. Worse, in the sweeping under the rugs that followed, the affected kids were robbed of the timely help that a true assessment of their test performance would have generated.
Yet, we mustn’t forget that all human beings are fallible. We’ve all fallen short — at some time, somewhere. Thus, mercy should temper justice.
Judgment that counts on this earth is rightly remanded largely to judicial systems and not the court of public opinion. Hall and the other defendants are innocent until proven guilty. We accept and respect that.
And, if the medical experts are anywhere near accurate in their assessments, Beverly Hall — at a date and time not of humanity’s choosing — may soon face a judgment outside of human hands.
If doctors’ predictions come to pass — and Hall does not live to stand trial — that sad outcome should not end matters.
The quest for the full truth should continue undeterred. Facing up to the full reality of what really happened in the APS CRCT cheating scandal is a necessary step for this region. Doing so will let us begin to move on. In so doing, we should remain mindful evermore that Atlanta’s children should never be harmed in such manner again.
