Beverly Hall, Former Atlanta Schools Superintendent, Denies She Knew Of Cheating

While on vacation in Hawaii, former Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Beverly Hall told WXIA TV on camera Wednesday that she "absolutely knew nothing about the cheating."

Hall references the cheating scandal in Atlanta schools that shook the country last week and "stunned" U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. An investigation of exam results from 2009 revealed widespread cheating among teachers on state standardized tests in various ways, including erasing wrong answers on students' multiple choice answer sheets and replacing them with correct ones. The report implicated 178 educators at almost 80 percent of 56 elementary and middle schools.

Hall was APS superintendent through the period of reported cheating. She announced her resignation last November. Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis replaced four superintendents and two principals this week as a result of the revelations. APS board member Khaatim El also announced his resignation Monday.

In a statement last week, Hall's lawyer issued a statement that reiterated Hall "most definitely did not know of any widespread cheating" on the 2009 examinations, or on tests administered during any other year, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. The AJC first broke the news of last week's report.

From the statement:

Apparently, not one of the 82 persons who allegedly "confessed" to cheating told the Investigators that Dr. Hall at any time instructed, encouraged, or condoned cheating. The Report's conclusion that Dr. Hall actually knew of any such cheating is based entirely on supposition. The further conclusion that Dr. Hall "should have known" rests on negative inferences from selective, circumstantial evidence.

The WXIA reporter who caught Hall on vacation pressed the former superintendent on her knowledge of teachers cheating, to which Hall repeated several times that she had "no further comment," directing the reporter to the statements she has released.

Hall also posted a separate statement on the Atlanta Education Fund's Facebook page last week, writing that she's "disturbed" by statements from teachers revealing their fear of speaking out against the known cheating for fear of retaliation.

Hall writes in her post:

To the extent that I failed to take measures that would have prevented what the Investigators have disclosed, I am accountable, as head of the school system, for failing to act accordingly. I sincerely apologize to the people of Atlanta and their children for any shortcomings. If I did anything that gave teachers the impression that I was unapproachable and unresponsive to their concerns, I also apologize for that. Where people consciously chose to cheat, however, the moral responsibility must lie with them. I do not apologize for the reforms my staff and I implemented during my tenure as superintendent.

Comments

[mitsecl]

03:25 PM on 07/22/2011

If you don't create policies of accountability and results are "happeninng" just "magically"....you didn't know???

[Michael Deangelo]

01:58 PM on 07/19/2011

BUT, But...Its for the CHILDREN!!! We need more of your taxes for The CHILDREN....Yeah baby, When Enron, Global Crossing, etc goes down in flames or any private business for that matter....No one says, "We screwed up, we need more investor money"...But, when its Government, no problem, they'll keep asking for more and more tax money to fix it....

Talk about Child Abuse!!! What about the kids now that "Thought"....They passed? Now I have to argue with them at the cash register because they've been cheated (and don't know)... Math, Science and, English....(but they can tell me how to play angry birds!)....Yeah! So remember...More Tax dollars... folks....

If they had just a little more tax dollars this would all be fixed...Amazing!

[reeltime07]

07:49 PM on 07/16/2011

Doesn't matter if she did or didn't know! It happened under her watch and she's responsible!! With the perks of leadership go the responsibilities also! Make an example of her laxity in oversight! Give her a fair trial and her day in court,if convicted send her to jail! they stole money from those that played by the rules and need to be PUNISHED.

[knott wrench]

02:49 AM on 07/16/2011

Wasn't "Sgt. 'I Know Nothing' Schultz", Beverly Hall, once the School's Administrator for the City of Oakland, Calif.?

At any Rate, the Top Person is Supposed to know what's going on in her Organization.

[LitSpeaks]

12:33 PM on 07/15/2011

Administrators don't tell you to do wrong; they imply. The climate is to get the job done no matter what. I repeatedly tell my colleagues to maintain the integrity of the state exams because any wrongdoing will be placed on teachers. We're also strongly encouraged to pass students even if they have only been to school five days in a semester. We're asked to give them a make-up packet. Sometimes it's suggested that we simply change their grades. Then NYC can boast high graduation rates with students who barely came to school their four years, but passed all five of their Regents due to extremely generous grading. Some places outright cheat like Atlanta and some places do subtle forms of cheating. Either way administrators and superintendents can claim innocence. Some teachers are afraid for their jobs so they do what it takes. I remind people that it's not just your job, it's your license on the line. And I'd rather lose my job than my license so I refuse to allow administrators to intimidate me into doing wrong. But this is a hard thing to do because administrators are masters at creating hostile working environments that come close to but don't cross the line. So don't place all the blame on Atlanta's teachers. It isn't pretty when administrators turn on you whether you're union-backed or not.

[tonysam]

12:47 AM on 07/18/2011

Exactly. I refused to cheat for a principal when he wanted me to illegally put them on alternate tests instead of taking standardized tests, as they were required to do despite being special ed. I suffered the consequences from this demented principal's retaliation. But I wasn't going to risk my license doing something that was impossible to do anyway.

[Michael Deangelo]

02:01 PM on 07/19/2011

Don't blame the Administrators? Are you kidding?......Yeah, so when my Boss tells me to walk out the door with $500,000 in Computer hardware......Don't blame me...I was just following orders....Riiight.....I got it down - PUNT!

[J R M]

11:18 AM on 07/15/2011

It doesn't really matter if she knew or not. A preventable catastrophe occurred on her watch. And she was totally unaware of what was going on - and did not take any measures to detect or prevent abuse.

In the US Navy, when a preventable catastrophe occurs, the entire chain of command that could / should have dealt with the issue / prevented it (including training and oversight) finds their careers over. This is better than the Soviet Union that would shoot a chain of command for incompetence / dereliction of duty.

[reeltime07]

07:55 PM on 07/16/2011

Unlike the U.S.Army where they just get promoted( Major Colin Powell and The Massacre at My Li)

[Michael Deangelo]

02:03 PM on 07/19/2011

Lets not get carried away - "A preventabl­e catastroph­e"....No, its just stealing, cheating etc...A REAL preventabl­e catastroph­e would be if Obama wins in 2012

[umbrarchist]

09:34 AM on 07/15/2011

Yeah right! Tell me another one.

[IndyVoter777]

08:42 AM on 07/15/2011

Not knowing anything is almost as bad as knowing.

Buh-bye, Beverly

[Jimmy Kilpatrick]

08:20 AM on 07/15/2011

Obama and her make a perfect pair since they are masters at deception.

[Ariel Bonzai]

02:57 AM on 07/15/2011

Oh my, we really have a mess when you consider the is a nationwide issue. The sick thing is, so many schools will blame teachers for what we know administrators do. The tests ar not secure so certain cot of classroom personnel stay late on text dates and fix the wrong answers. The analysists catch on quick because you second guess is rarely right and if the scores begin to meet the, there is another statistically improbable factor. This was so in Atlanta where the administrators who inflicted the cheating on teachers were never dealt with. Not for cheating, for failing to catch it or for wrongly firing and defaming teachers who reported the illegal activity as we are mandated., Duncan, just now hearing of this situation, says it is a simple security issue. But how accurate are scores with security so compromised? Remember there is already a 45 % margin of error as it is. The value added model is not very adequate, so if a 4 th grade teacher cheats, and her students ar e proficient or advance when they enter another teachers class, the decline in scores is going to be the innocent teacher's burden. This seems to be the tend. Hard working, honest educators get punished by acting with integrity.
Please weigh in on the recall of the test and reviaon of NCLB at www.Perdaily.com

[Michael Deangelo]

02:15 PM on 07/19/2011

This is what we knew would happen.in 1979 - More Government expansion = bad product.

When you have a Federal Department pouring millions into something or, "Education"....Then pulling at the heart strings of everyone....It was only a matter of time....

The Federal DOE should on;ly NOT have been created...It should be tossed....

Put contol back into the States hands....The Federal DOE has been a hot bed that turns out a bad product since its inception....Its become a political power house all in the name of "kids"....If people can't see that, they can't see anything...Or rather, they don't want to...

[Ariel Bonzai]

02:43 AM on 07/15/2011

How can they continue to leave all the teachers who told and were fired for doing so with their lives impn ruins? The fact theat these bogus charges compromised good teachers and their careers betrays the administrators' guilt in this matter, and the officials wanton indifference to righting a wrong that can be a reason for the offending administrators dismissals. ALLLLL this time those teachers who were whistle blowers lost income, reprtation, probably a lot of sleep, Yet no one has interceded in their behalf. Hey, if you.re one of the teachers compromised by this madness we want to help. Visit us at www. Perdaily.com

[spoonbill1963]

10:31 AM on 07/15/2011

This makes the teachers look a lot better and the admin people a lot worse.

[frdafury]

01:38 AM on 07/15/2011

Circumstantial or not, I don't believe her. I find it amazing that a person in power over this organization did not have a clue as to what her underlings were doing. On top of that, if she did not know, then she was a poor administrator/manager. The numbers alone should have told her that something was rotten in Denmark/Atlanta. If there are that many upswings yet the next year losses, did she not think there was something wrong? Or perhaps, like most in power looking to look good, she just did not think.

[f2900]

12:29 AM on 07/15/2011

I love the Sergeant Schultz method of avoiding responsibility -- "I know no-THING!"

[GlennWatson]

12:02 AM on 07/15/2011

Has she given back her superintendent of the year award yet?

By the way, she is lying.

[flossophy]

07:29 PM on 07/14/2011

This is the problem with a government-run education monopoly. 

Too many opportunities for ab.using the system.

[frdafury]

01:39 AM on 07/15/2011

Yes and business is just for the country and not the short term profit.