About 30 educators implicated in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal have resigned or retired from the system, APS interim Superintendent Erroll Davis confirmed at a town hall meeting Thursday. The Huffington Post first reported the mass exodus Tuesday.
The number of teachers the district is looking to remove now is down to the "130s, 140s," Davis said Thursday, according to coverage of the town hall meeting by WXIA-TV. More than 80 implicated have confessed to cheating.
Last week, Davis issued a memo to those named in the investigation, writing that they had until Wednesday evening to resign or get fired. Seven took the offer and announced their departure between the letter issuance and the deadline.
Unless found guilty of cheating, educators who elected retirement can still collect retirement benefits, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
Termination proceedings can take anywhere from days to years, HuffPost reported Tuesday. Teachers who were named in the investigation but did not resign will be suspended.
"They will not be going in front of children," Davis told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
One former APS teacher has filed the first lawsuit against the district for being fired after she offered information about cheating to investigators.