Just Seven Atlanta Educators Resign Amid Cheating Scandal

Just seven educators implicated in the Atlanta cheating scandal met the Wednesday evening deadline imposed by interim superintendent Erroll Davis to resign before the district commences termination proceedings.

Davis sent a letter to the implicated educators last Friday, saying that they had until Wednesday to leave their posts, or get fired.

The announcement was made in light of a report that surfaced this month that teachers in at least 44 of the district's 56 schools had participated in various forms of cheating, including erasing and correcting wrong answers on students' answer sheets for mandated standardized test to meet goals for adequate yearly progress reports.

Of the seven who voluntarily left by Wednesday, one was an elementary school principal and six were elementary school teachers. Two resigned and five retired, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Keith Bromery, director of media relations for Atlanta Public Schools, told CNN he wasn't surprised that there were only seven voluntary departures, adding that more teachers can choose to resign even after the deadline.

Davis told parents at a town hall meeting last week that those involved in the incident would not be back in classrooms, but Bromery told CNN Wednesday that a final decision has not yet been made.

"They may be reassigned or put on administrative leave," he said.

The original number of 178 accused for cheating has also been revised to 179, according to AJC. Investigators removed one name from the list but implicated two more. The process of firing the other 172 teachers won't be easy. In Georgia, it could range from days to years through a costly system.

Some prosecutors are still deciding whether to open criminal cases against those accused, according to CNN. AJC reports that DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James has already opened a criminal investigation into five implicated APS schools. Conversely, one former APS teacher has filed the first lawsuit against the district for being fired after she offered information about cheating to investigators.

Comments

[Ed Red]

06:47 AM on 08/17/2011

Finally, some good news. The criminal investigation of the Beverly Hall Black Mafia has begun. They will extra large belly chains for Big Mama.

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/criminal-probe-of-aps-1114921.html

[noshortcuts]

09:26 PM on 07/23/2011

Cheating to project a better image has been common for years. My former private school teacher friends often told stories where all their students performed above grade level. However, when these same students enrolled in our public schools, lo and behold, they were actually below grade level. The same game literally gets played out in our public K-12 systems. Some will graduate with accommodated high school diplomas but unsurprisingly do poorly when faced with the academic rigor of community college or state university. Over and over again we are told that every child can do every thing. Unfortunately the parents and students who most likely are not able to achieve this cruel hoax often put in little effort toward this goal. The academic bell curve in our legislators minds looks more like a simple vertical line with student failure being translated as teacher incompetence. How far from the truth.

[Duane Eaton]

03:44 PM on 07/23/2011

It does not matter where you live you hear the same thing. It's for the kids or if we just had a little bit more money

[peapers]

02:35 PM on 07/22/2011

Let's all make sure that reasoning doesn't make it onto this comment board. God forbid someone have a difference of opinion than The Huffington Post.

[peapers]

02:29 PM on 07/22/2011

Every time a negative report comes out about our school system, some intellectual lightweight brings up the No Child Left Behind policy. As if having standards for a child's education is a bad thing.

You all are basically saying that if we didn't have standards for what a child should be learning in school there wouldn't be any failing. That's the stupidest reasoning I have ever heard.

Your only problem with the NCLB program was that it was introduced during Bush's administarion. Otherwise you would be angry, like I am, about the lack of backbone and fortitude children, their parents and teachers have today.

There are children in third world countries, living in dirt, that are better educated than our children. The difference between them and us is that they don't coddle their children.

They actually MAKE them learn and teach them the basics of education. They don't teach them to feel good about themselves for being a (FILL IN THE MINORITY), and indoctrinate them into becoming a socialist parasite.

[djo2013]

08:09 PM on 07/23/2011

"As if having standards for a child's education is a bad thing."

Not every test and measure is a good test or measure. That's the issue. Legislators come up with ideas that don't work in the real world, and cause a lot of damage because their ideas are tough to undo. NCLB doesn't do what it's supposed to do. I think we might consider revising policies that don't work. Or shall we stick with the NCLB clunker just because we have it, or because Bush put it in effect?

[Timothy Thocher]

02:11 PM on 07/22/2011

Lets see, we cheat on our taxes, our athletes, at all levels cheat, we cheat on our significant others. and we are surprise that a group of people, being assaulted daily by conservatives cheat to try and keep their jobs. Any one surprised by this has their head in the sand. If only we were as appalled by the cheating that goes on in government and big business. If your rich, cheating is allowed and even celebrated. I dont condone cheating at any level, but anyone who know anything should understand that when a you create a competion with anything there will be cheating..

[trackerbelle]

03:59 PM on 07/22/2011

Bottom line is still the same.

Teachers cheated and lied in attempts to make themselves look better.
If a teacher did this, they should be gone. No explanations. No excuses.

[Timothy Thocher]

05:13 PM on 07/22/2011

THATS FINE BUT SO SHOULD EVERY COACH, ATHLETE, CEO, POLITICIAN. JUST BECAUSE THE CONSERVATIVES HAVE MADE TEACHERS A TARGET, DOESNT MEAN THEY ARE THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. CHEATING IS A DISEASE INFECTING ALL OF AMERICA. LETS NOT HOLD TEACHERS TO A HIGHER DEGREE OF MALICE, WHEN OUR LEADERS HAVE MADE CHEATING ACCEPTED, IF YOU ARE OF THE CORRECT CLASS. AS LONG AS THERE HAVE BEEN STANDARDIZED TESTS, THERE HAS BEEN CHEATING. IT STARTED IN THE RICH SCHOOL DISTRICTS, BACK IN THE 70,S. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE TEA POT AND FACE REALITY, IF SOME ONE GETS AHEAD IN THIS COUNTRY, THEY PROBABLY CHEATED SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE. BILL GATES DID NOT MAKE MICROSOFT WHAT IT IS TODAY WITH OUT BENDING MORE THAN A FEW RULES, AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF LAWSUITS TO PROVE THAT.

[hellnomo]

12:58 PM on 07/22/2011

It is going to cost big money to get rid of the pride of the GAE, administrative leave or being reassigned? They should at least have their teaching credentials revoked.

[db025]

11:30 AM on 07/22/2011

Union teachers are like lice - once they get on you it takes forever to get them off.

[djo2013]

08:10 PM on 07/23/2011

Same with trolls.

[Booger Lewis]

11:26 AM on 07/22/2011

Did anyone ever wonder why the kids graduating through this incredibly successful school system could not score well on the ACT, could not read or write on a sixth grade level, and could barely speak the English language unless they laced it with profanity? I'm just asking, weren't there any red flags before a decade's children were sacrificed? Did that lady Superintendent rule through fear? Someone should fly out to Hawaii again and ask her.

[ziploc62]

11:19 AM on 07/22/2011

I do not condone what these teachers and administrators have done, however the need to blame them for our childrens failurtes are not totaly their fault. Lets start with the NO CHild left behind program... To promote a child into the next grade when the child has not passed the grade he/she is in is the worst thing that can be done for the child. The reason they say it is a good idea is because they dont want the child to be humiliated, well a little humiliation goes along way. All they are being taught is they dont have to do the work and they will still pass. Oh lets not forget to bring up the parents responsibilities in making sure their children do their homework and study. What consequence does a child get for not doing class work and or home work? NONE they get passed to the next grade.

[Booger Lewis]

11:05 AM on 07/22/2011

I know I am old, which in essence means, what I think is irrelevant. But, in the "good old days" when I was young, it took a 94% to get an "A", 86% was a "B", 78% was a "C", 70% was a "D", and anything below was failing. Now it goes 90, 80, 70, 60. Many college students have to take remedial classes for no credit just to start (Which might explain why it takes the average graduate 5.5 years to graduate, and why 2/3's flunk out anyhow.). If all these new programs and methods are so great, why do the private schools still teach with the old, traditional methods? Why do politicians kids attend private schools? Why do more kids receive "A's" in the public schools than "C's"? Are they all outstanding? How can that be when the brightest are in those private schools, making a bunch of "C's"? Why do we worry so much about the kid's feelings, instead of worrying about their success?

[philips0811]

11:46 AM on 07/22/2011

Good Post - our system is utterly broken.

[trackerbelle]

11:58 AM on 07/22/2011

* part of the reason that students have to take*

Geeze, my fingers are not cooperating today.

[trackerbelle]

11:56 AM on 07/22/2011

Part of the reason for thar sudent have to take remedial classes in college, is simple.

Not all children should go to college. However out schools, admisinstrator and even the President saying that kids need a college education to succed in life. It is a great disservice to a huge population of our children who would make excellent craftmen and tradesmen.

Many of college graduates are finding that their degrees are worthless in getting them a job. But they have thousands of dollars in loans.

It's a sin.

[taylomd]

10:42 AM on 07/22/2011

Mark my words, none of these teachers will be answerable for this rip-off.

[philips0811]

11:46 AM on 07/22/2011

Sadly, I'll bet you are right. Note that five of the seven who "resigned" actually retired. They are already off the hook.

[djo2013]

08:16 PM on 07/23/2011

Let's see - did the article say 80 teachers were gone and hundreds more have their jobs on the line?

How do you call that "none" ? I'll be glad to "mark your words," but your words already have red correcting marks on them.

[bettyandmike]

10:31 AM on 07/22/2011

It seems that many on here have turned this topic into an anti union beatdown.

Keep in mind that the benefits we ALL enjoy are the fruits of the efforts of unionism.

Some say, "Disband the Department of Labor".

We can anticipate the first thing to go then will be minimum wage.

Anyone care to guess where your salary will go when that happens?

Unionism protects you only if you work for a living, if you clip dividend coupons and live off the

family trust fund, you are not protected.

Many are defending that way of life at the risk of harming their own.

[taylomd]

10:45 AM on 07/22/2011

That was then, this is now.

[bettyandmike]

11:02 AM on 07/22/2011

Thanks for the astute history lesson.

Good luck to you in your future employment.

[Booger Lewis]

11:11 AM on 07/22/2011

Um-m-m, why do teachers need a union? I thought they were professionals, like doctors and lawyers. Man, if those folks ever form unions, the public schools better start requiring kids to take Mandarin instead of English. Unions have turned rank and file teachers into thugs, just like the teamsters. Where have you gone Jimmy Hoffa, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Whoo Hoo Hoo.

[bettyandmike]

11:52 AM on 07/22/2011

Well, believe it or not, Booger, Mandarin is taught in many public high schools throughout the United States.
Your hours, your wages, your benefits are brought to you courtesy of former union members.

As I said, good luck in your employment without them.

[ghkusa]

10:09 AM on 07/22/2011

Not surprised that only seven resigned because "The process of firing the other 172 teachers won't be easy. In Georgia, it could range from days to years through a costly system."

Due process should not be too easy or a phony formality, but it's often so difficult and drawn out as to be practically impossible. Would public-employee unions share any responsibility for that?

[Booger Lewis]

11:16 AM on 07/22/2011

So, you are saying they will all be on paid leave for years. Where do I sign-up. If they will hire me in Atlanta, I promise to cheat also, if that will earn me several years of paid leave. Oh, I forgot. I have way too much pride to cheat the children like that. In the immortal words of Rosanna Rosanna Danna, "Never mind".

[Ghoulish]

11:32 AM on 07/22/2011

I knew a teacher who was accused of slapping a student. She was put on administrative leave for two weeks while the incident was being investigated. Turns out she didn't even touch the student or the student's property. The student made it up because the teacher was going to write a referral for the student's use of profanity, and the student didn't want to get in trouble at home.

Should the administration just have believed the student, without an investigation, and fired the teacher on the spot? I don't believe so. As it was, her reputation was ruined by the incident. The whole community heard about the slap, but news about an exoneration doesn't travel as well. Due process has its place. Can it take too long? Most definitely, but that's a separate issue.

BTW, the student wasn't punished at all.

[Booger Lewis]

09:45 AM on 07/22/2011

When my children were in the primary grades, the big thing was phonetics. If what you put on the page vaguely sounded like the correct word, it didn't matter how it was spelled. Two of my daughters are working on their Masters, the third on her PhD, and none of them can spell worth crap. I wonder what the next great experiment will be?

[ghkusa]

10:11 AM on 07/22/2011

Multiculturalism, among others.

It failed in Europe, etc., so why not keep pushing it here?

[taylomd]

10:44 AM on 07/22/2011

This is why American children cannot keep up with Northern Europeans and Chinese.