The arrest (and eventual conviction) of 35 educators continues a shameful legacy in the Atlanta Public School System cheating scandal.
The Atlanta Journal-Consitution reports that 35 teachers, testing coordinators and school administrators were given until midnight Tuesday to turn themselves in after being indicted in one of the biggest school cheating scandals in modern history. Only four of the 35 educators had not turned themselves in by the deadline.
The biggest fish — former Atlanta school superintendent Beverly Hall — turned herself in at the Fulton County jail just after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. She was surrounded by her counsel who whisked her past the mob of shouting reporters. Hall, 66, wore her Sunday finest, adorned with pearl necklace and matching earrings. She was fingerprinted and sat for a classy mugshot before posting a $200,000 bond. Her bond was originally set at $7.5 million. “I don’t think there was really any serious entertainment of that,” her attorney, David J. Bailey, told the AJC.
After the break is a roll call of some of the former educators who took the walk of shame into the Fulton County jail yesterday.
These are the people that a grand jury alleges are responsible for making Atlanta’s school children among the dumbest in the nation.
Many graduates of Atlanta public schools are unable to adequately complete a job application or pass a college entrance exam.
1. Pamela Cleveland: A former Dunbar Elementary school teacher, is charged with racketeering for changing students’ wrong answers to right on the 2009 CRCT. She is also charged with making a false statement for telling a GBI agent she had no knowledge of anyone erasing or changing answers on the CRCT. Source
2. Sharon Davis Williams: A third area superintendent, Davis Williams is accused of instructing educators to cover up cheating and punishing a whistle-blower. Source
3. Kimberly Oden: Former teacher at Parks Middle School, charged with racketeering and making false statements and writings. Source
4. Tamara Cotman: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Cotman, who oversaw schools in some of Atlanta’s poorest neighborhoods, advised principals to refuse to cooperate with the cheating inquiry. Meeting in 2010 with a dozen principals from schools where test scores were most supect, she disparaged the state investigation then told the principals to write and read aloud memos telling state investigators to “go to hell.” She was also accused of retaliating against an employee who answered questions about the memos. In a television interview along with other area superintendents accused of wrongdoing, Cotman denied any knowledge of widespread cheating. “I am going to fight not just for the job, but I had a reputation and career and a focus on serving children,” Cotman said. Source
5. Christopher Waller: One of the key figures in the state investigative report, Waller was principal of Parks Middle School where seven educators confessed to cheating, and six others, including Waller were implicated. Cheating reportedly occurred at the school each year from 2006 through 2010, and investigators said Waller bullied teachers into copying exams and erasing wrong answers. A teacher who admitted his role in the cheating said Waller organized cheating “parties” with teachers. Another teacher told investigators that in 2009, two staff members loaded test papers into a blue cooler and delivered them to rooms where teachers corrected students’ mistakes. They returned later with the cooler and hauled the tests away. Waller denied wrongdoing, saying that if tampering occurred, it must have been after test papers left the school. He also said he wouldn’t cheat because he is a minister and because he wouldn’t have risked his $107,000-a-year salary. Hall had held Waller up as a model principal who got results by pushing educators to unlock the potential of underachieving poor students. Reassigned in 2010 while the state conducted its probe, Waller resigned from the district in 2012, citing personal reasons. Source
6. Frances Mack: A testing coordinator at D.H. Stanton Elementary, is charged with racketeering and false statements and writings. Source
7. Shani Robinson: a former teacher at Dunbar Elementary School, charged with racketeering and making false statements and writings. Source
8. Millicent Few [Her bond was originally set at $1 million]: According to the state investigation, Millicent Few, the head of human resources for the district, “illegally ordered” the destruction of early, damaging drafts of an outside lawyer’s investigation of test-tampering at Atlanta’s Deerwood Academy. In another instance, Few ordered staff to destroy a case log of cheating-related internal investigations after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution requested it, the report said. Few told staff to replace the old log with a new, altered version. When the district finally produced the complaints, the investigators wrote, it illegally withheld cases that made it “look bad” — either because its investigation was poor or because wrongdoing received minimal sanction. Like others, Few also made false statements to the investigators, the report said. Few has denied that she tampered with documents or ordered anyone else to do so. Few tried to leave Atlanta and start over. She moved to Connecticut and became a consultant in Bridgeport Public Schools. But in February 2012, after only two days on the job, Few was fired after Bridgeport officials learned the full extent of the allegations against her. She moved to Connecticut and became a consultant in Bridgeport Public Schools. But in February, after only two days on the job, Few was fired after Bridgeport officials learned the full extent of the allegations against her. Source
9. Diane Webb-Buckner: a former Dunbar Elementary teacher, is charged with racketeering for changing students’ wrong answers to right on the 2009 CRCT. She is also charged with making a false statement to a GBI agent. Source
10. Dana Evans: former principal at Dobbs Elementary School, was charged with racketeering and four counts of making false statements and writings. Source
11. Michael Pitts: area superintendent, was booked into the Fulton County Jail on $25,000 bond, charged with racketeering and influencing witnesses. Source
12. Armstead Salters: principal of Gideons Elementary, was booked into the Fulton County Jail on $2 million bond, according to jail records. Salters is charged with racketeering, false statements and writings, influencing witness. Source
13. Dessa Curb: teacher at Dobbs Elementary, was booked into the Fulton County Jail on $60,000 bond, according to jail records. Curb is charged with racketeering, false statements and writings. Source
14. Tameka Goodson: a school improvement specialist at Kennedy Middle School, turned herself in around 12:30 a.m. and was booked into the Fulton County Jail on $200,000 bond, according to jail records. Goodson is charged with racketeering and false statements and writings. Source
15. Donald Bullock: a testing coordinator at Usher-Collier Heights Elementary, arrived at the jail with his attorney just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Bullock is accused of asking two teachers to participate in falsifying standardized test answer sheets and telling the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that he wasn’t aware of teachers erasing test answers. He’s charged with racketeering, false swearing and three counts of false statements or writings Bullock had no comment for reporters as he walked briskly from his car to the jail lobby. Source
16. Theresia Copeland: Benteen Elementary testing coordinator. Copeland is charged with racketeering, theft by taking and two counts of false statements or writings. Source
17. Gregory Reid: Former Assistant Principal of Parks Middle School, is charged with racketeering, false statements and writings, theft by taking and false swearing. Source
18. Sandra Ward: a Testing coordinator at Parks Middle School, is charged with racketeering, falsifying students’ answer sheets and theft by taking. Source
19. Ingrid Abella-Sly: The former Humphries Elementary teacher is charged with racketeering for “falsifying” student answer sheets on the 2009 CRCT and making false statements to a GBI agent. Abella-Sly is also charged with theft by taking for accepting bonus money based on phony test scores. Source
20. Sheridan Rogers: The former testing coordinator at Gideons Elementary is charged with racketeering and three counts of making false statements and writings. Source
21. Starlette Mitchell: The former teacher at Parks Middle School is charged with racketeering and three counts of making false statements. Source
22. Angela Williamson: The former teacher at Dobbs Elementary is charged with racketeering; two counts of making false statements and writings; and two counts of false swearing. Source
23. Gloria Ivey: A former Dunbar Elementary teacher, is charged with racketeering for changing students’ wrong answers to right on the 2009 CRCT. She is also charged with making false statements for telling a GBI agent she did not participate in, assist or have knowledge of anyone giving answers on the CRCT. Source
24. Lisa Terry: The former Humphries Elementary teacher is charged with racketeering for “falsifying” student answer sheets on the 2009 CRCT and making false statements to a GBI agent. Terry is also charged with theft by taking for accepting bonus money based on phony test scores. Source
25. Sheila Evans: A Benteen Elementary teacher, is charged with racketeering, false statements and writings (2 counts); and theft by taking. Source
26. Wendy Ahmed: A teacher at Humphries Elementary, is charged with racketeering; false statements and writings (2 counts); and theft by taking. Source
27. Carol Dennis: The secretary at Kennedy Middle School is charged with racketeering and false statements and writings. Source
28. Tabeeka Jordan: The assistant principal of Deerwood Elementary is charged with racketeering, false statements, and theft by taking. She turned herself in Tuesday. Source
29. Shayla Smith: Dobbs Elementary, charged with racketeering, two counts of racketeering and false swearing. Source
30. Derrick Broadwater: Former teacher at Dobbs Elementary, charged with racketeering, three counts of making false statements and writings and false swearing. Source
