Georgia Education Officials Allow Atlanta School Board Members To Keep Jobs, On Year-Long Probation

Atlanta's eight school board members will get to keep their jobs -- for now.

The Georgia Board of Education signed a consent order with Atlanta Public Schools Tuesday that postpones sanctions against the city's school board until November 4, the Atlanta Political Buzz Examiner reports.

The agreement was signed just before a scheduled hearing that would have evaluated the eight board members, and would have allowed Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to remove them from office.

APS was put on probation in January after allegations of widespread cheating on state standardized tests, grade inflation and disagreements among board members. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools had asked board members to make improvements such as resolving communication, operational and personal issues as well as ensuring that "the actions and behavior of all board members are aligned with board policies," the Examiner reports.

"Under these circumstances, with the dire need for leadership and support of the corrective action plan put forth by Superintendent Erroll Davis, the state board agrees to suspend the July 26, 2011, hearing and do agree to reconvene the hearing at its discretion no later than Nov. 4, 2011," state Board of Education Chairman Wanda Barrs wrote in a prepared statement, according to the Atlanta Business Journal.

Although the board has until September 30 to make the necessary changes, the Georgia attorney general's office sanctioned the group Monday night, instigating a year-long probationary period that monitors the board and puts them through training about state law, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

The board's agreement to state scrutiny comes after the AJC and state investigators revealed a culture of covering up the widespread cheating, including from then-superintendent Beverly Hall. Hall has repeatedly denied she knew of the cheating happening in her district.

Comments

[Stephen Stafford]

10:32 PM on 07/30/2011

There are several moving parts to this story that are not necessarily interwoven. One piece that needs immediate clarity is the Attorney General's sanctions. This action supposedly is related to an open meetings violation. What went on? The Governor and the Mayor coralled the school board into taking a private meeting with them, which is a violation of the open meetings law. It is curious the story omits this essential detail.

[Kimberlee York Hannan]

01:23 PM on 07/27/2011

I think everyone here is missing the big picture. WHY did anyone feel it necessary to cheat? What pressure are they under to make scores that they feel is necessary to have systemic cheating? These teachers had nothing to lose. It was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. We need to stop allowing the powers that be to dictate what is best for our students. There should be many other ways we judge students' learning. Only then will the pressure to make test scores less pressure.

[eceresa]

09:14 AM on 07/27/2011

Crap flows downhill.

[mlaiuppa]

09:43 PM on 07/26/2011

Told you so.

The teachers get fired as scapegoats.

And management gets off scot free.

[whitesharkt]

09:22 PM on 07/26/2011

The school board should be offered the same plan as the teachers, either step down or be brought down. Offer teachers Probation and the same rights as the board. Teachers should not be made the scapegoats of poor decisions made by the administration. The board should be following the same privileges as the teachers or the teachers given the same privileges as the board. Keep it FAIR to all involved.

[sf1000000]

09:15 PM on 07/26/2011

GADS....well the south is even more backwards than I thought !! Hummm I wonder how the citizens in ATL feel about this idea?

[Stephen Stafford]

10:38 PM on 07/30/2011

It was the correct decision. This story was poorly written. There are so many separate but related actions, it is hard to track them all.

This is not about the South being backwards. By the way, the South is not backwards, and wherever you live is neither better nor more enlightened.

There is a lot going on with the schools. There was a big confusion involving the school board separate from the cheating scandal. Several years ago the Chamber of Commerce mounted a school board slate. Those candidates who won have been at odds with other members. Their squabbles and failure to work as an unit resulted in the district being placed on probation because the school board was not working together.

[sf1000000]

11:29 PM on 07/30/2011

you would have to read the whole story it's been going on for years...and years..7 yrs now since I bought property in ATL...to say it is a mess is an understatement..but the kids are suffeing..and the property owners..
You are right on about your comment about where one lives..I lived in CA and the south..and our differences are what makes life interesting. I tell my friends in CA all the time, HEY the south is not that bad..the weather SUCKS sure..but so does the fog and wind and cold in SF all summer long !! But, that's good..not everyone wants to live in SC or NYC or DC or ATl or SF or LA..I never said the south was backwards..but many people I know think it is...Its different like fried occra...a dish I do not care for..but what works in AL does not work in CA or in SC or SD..
As for APS, they havea long history of doing stupid things..and in the end the kids suffer..I wish that more of the people at APS where going to trial or something drastic to show that there is a price to be paid for doing wrong..but the APS board is being "excused" last I heard..teachers are leaving or resigning and or being fired..Ms Hall left with all her money...this has been going on for years..sad.

[Loli O]

08:08 PM on 07/26/2011

I guess Georgia Education Officials think it's ok to dumb down the children rather then teach them. All people involved should be fired and sent to jail with heavy fines.

[sawyer0413]

07:31 PM on 07/26/2011

Cheat one class of students (30 or so, max.) get fired and/or threatened with firing. Create a system whereby massive cheating went on, be completely in the dark on that cheating, continue to keep your job, your salary, and be placed on probation for the year. YEAH! That is "justice for all!"

[Stephen Stafford]

10:41 PM on 07/30/2011

That is not what happened. The story mixed separate threads that are distinct.

The probation is related to the school board meeting with the Governor and Mayor privately at their request. The Attorney General could not go after the School Board without going after the Governor, who initiated the illegal private meeting. These actions have nothing to do with the cheating scandal.

[sawyer0413]

10:46 PM on 07/30/2011

Stephen,

In the story, it said, "APS was put on probation in January after allegations of widespread cheating on state standardized tests, grade inflation and disagreements among board members." Those allegations of illegal private meetings are even more troubling, because it means that the school board was not even aware of the rules under which they operated. It almost makes one wonder what this school board does.

[Arleen1]

06:19 PM on 07/26/2011

If the school board keeps its jobs on probation, so should the teachers that they insist quit or be fired.

[relians]

06:09 PM on 07/26/2011

if they knew they were complicit and should be in jail. if they did not they were incompetent and should be fired.

[babby201]

05:37 PM on 07/26/2011

wouldn't a year behind bars for committing fraud be more appropriate , and not in the country club prison system either , the ones they prepped their students for.

[Susan Breslin]

05:33 PM on 07/26/2011

"the state board agrees to suspend the July 26, 2011, hearing and do agree"
Apparently the state board could use some grammar lessons.

[castlemike]

04:06 PM on 07/26/2011

Should have been Fired. Should have gone to Trial.

[rsticks18]

03:39 PM on 07/26/2011

what would it take to get them fired? i know-if they demanded the pledge of allegiance be recited every day, that would get them fired

[Vetinari]

04:03 PM on 07/26/2011

Not in Georgia. More likely to be fired if they used the term "civil war" instead of "the war where the north completely attakced us for no reason whatsoever"

[onelobo53]

04:58 PM on 07/26/2011

are we talking about the school board or the Governor ?

[sf1000000]

09:17 PM on 07/26/2011

My Great Grandfather was a Senator in GA...and it's the WAR of Northern Agression..NOW if you are in a mixed group, you call it the "recent unpleasantness"...THANK GOD I was educated and lived all my life in CA...!!

[Winkandanod]

03:34 PM on 07/26/2011

The post fails to mention that at least one of the trustees had the integrity to resign.

Any educator who dropped the ball this badly would have received a pink slip. This sets the horrible example that consequences are for little people and suckers.