Today is the day 10 of the 11 convicted former educators receive their sentences from Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter.
Judge Baxter, who is white, ordered the 10 black teachers jailed immediately after a jury convicted them of violating the RICO statute on April 1. RICO charges are usually reserved for organized crime mob figures.
WSB TV has provided live feed of the sentencing hearing from the Fulton County Courthouse.
Judge Baxter groused that he was forced to sit through 6 months of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial — and that the teachers must sit in jail until their sentencing hearing, which is today.
“When you lose your job and license that itself is a sentence for life,” said Pastor Harris T. Travis, speaking on behalf of Sharon Davis Williams. “I have worked with criminals… Sharon Davis Williams is not a criminal,” he said. Judge Baxter was not impressed with any of the statements. He seemed to stifle a yawn when Sharon Davis Williams’s daughter, Melody Bradley, took the stand to speak on behalf of her mother.
The only time the judge’s exterior exterior seemed to show cracks was when convicted former principal of Dobbs Elementary, Dana Evans (pictured above), stood up to speak. The judge acknowledged that his own son was a former student under Ms. Evans. He told Ms. Evans that his son went to her for counseling. “I’m sorry. I apologize… you were under pressure,” Baxter said to her.
“I’m not giving these folks 20 years,” Judge Baxter said in a tense discussion with a defense lawyer.
Defense lawyers have asked the judge to give the convicted teachers probation.
I saw one chinky eye in the bunch…….was she the “snitch”?
@ROTHIE
I hope they get probation. The stripping of the license and restitution is good. I also think they should be forced to volunteer in their communities with at risks youths. Help the communities they are saying that they failed. I think some of them might actually find healing in that. I don’t think they should go to jail.
And I ain’t going to watch this live stream so if this is it until lunch or something else happens then folks really not gone be here :wails:
I know after 1 pm it better get to cracking around here
Hell no they shouldn’t go to jail. We got folks out here cutting up bodies and hollin “self-defense” and they still able to walk the streets. These teachers cheated on a test (not saying it’s right) but the children are still alive today to pick up a book and read on their own……IJS. 20 years is a bit excessive AND making them wait in jail while he decided their fate was too. Again, IJS.
That’s it! I quit
I been holding up this blog with Missy and Zoe all morning. I will come back when I feel appreciated. Walks off with my booty jiggling 
Dayum right fukk his bref…. He ain’t have to die tho
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@Zoe @V I said what I said
I thought while he was running he talmbout :stop: time out I losing my breath
I don’t think this warrants jail time. Lifetime ban of teaching in the US, restitution, but jail time
AND making them wait in jail while he decided their fate was too
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:eyeroll: It was a FAWKING WEEK 7 days… It’s folks in jail awaiting sentencing for 2-3 years
So DEATH is going to be the measuring stick… as long as nobody manage to die everything else is okay?
If you ain’t bout that life I suggest you put in an app at Wal Mart..
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I suggest Target or KMart.
You can manage to die walking through the middle of Walmart unarmed and on your cell.
Thanks Aunt Sandy for sharing!!!!
Watching live now! These folks don’t deserve jail time
@Take
Come back; I was talking, y’all didn’t care
#missyJSays says:
AND making them wait in jail while he decided their fate was too
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It was a FAWKING WEEK 7 days… It’s folks in jail awaiting sentencing for 2-3 years
So DEATH is going to be the measuring stick… as long as nobody manage to die everything else is okay?
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I think a DAY in jail is too long compared to someone who may have murdered somebody that gets to walk the street.
And yes death can be used as a measuring stick. Why not?
#foxy
I hope he only gives them probation, I think they have seen the light and are
for what they were trying to do.
” dis tew murch ” :hides:
I think a DAY in jail is too long compared to someone who may have murdered somebody that gets to walk the street.
And yes death can be used as a measuring stick. Why not?
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:eyeroll: So in Arothland anything goes except killing somebody yeah ok…
So DEATH is going to be the measuring stick… as long as nobody manage to die everything else is okay?
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Well we know it’s not the measuring stick for you, because you know Fukk your breath and sh.it :eyeroll:
Cousin
#missyJSays says:
I think a DAY in jail is too long compared to someone who may have murdered somebody that gets to walk the street.
And yes death can be used as a measuring stick. Why not?
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So in Arothland…
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*peeks in at Waste* Olive juice
@MISSY yes death is a measuring stick because these kids have their whole lives ahead of them. They were not molested, maimed, smothered with a pillow in a hotel room, their record exec didn’t spend their advance on jewelry, they can breathe…. I mean this ain’t life altering to ME. It is only if the parents and system allow it. And if that is the case then they are far more at fault than these teachers. And yes I take education seriously. I came from an ok school system but there were athletes that were passed to play .. Their parents let it happen. I had a parent who expected me to get good grades but I can’t say she helped much bc she had to work. Sangle parent. So at some point I had to start taking my own education seriously and trying for what I wanted out of life and not accepting what happened around me. I earned everything I got. I get some of them were in elementary so maybe they didn’t have a voice. Because they are young. Fine that is even MORE reason why this is not life altering. Unless they allow it. There is plenty of time to make a change ..
@Aroth the at the doe comment with the #foxy .. Gone
maybe not the full 20 years but they do deserve jail time. let them experience what some of the children whose lives they’ve PERMANENTLY affected will experience as a result of their poor choices as the folks hired to provide the educational foundation to the most innocent members of our society.
if these had been white teachers doing this to black children, we’d be calling for them to be tarred, feathered and hung in the town square. we treat each other worse than white people ever could. they ain’t sorry, not nan one of ’em. sorry they got caught but not in the least bit sorry for what they did. it was all about getting bonuses and being in the “in” crowd with Beverly Hall. fukk ’em.
COUSIN
:2dance: I’ll let you wear my #Arothland souvenier (sp) bow.
Well we know it’s not the measuring stick for you, because you know Fukk your breath and sh.it
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I clearly said I thought he was losing his breath while RUNNING geesh. Why you being so baby wipes??
what is this about fukk somebody’s breath? nobody got the death penalty for this, did they? did I miss something?
to clarify, I don’t think anybody should die because of this.
@Take was trying to keep it lite today
@WHITTY how are they permanently affected? How did the parents … System allow these kids to be permanently affected? I say that because the teachers shouldn’t of had total control to be able to manipulate these kids’ futures without any checks and balances…. For years.. Because that’s what permanent would mean to me. From elem-high school they passed these kids for God grades leaving them unable to read or write… Basic skills….. And if they did then you as a parent don’t know your child can’t read?
Just hypothesizing
Why you being so crass? It’s okay to do the education prior to making insensitive azz comments
@WASTE well I guess I blew it
Goes to sit over with you in the lite corner
long as jamie diamonn ben bernake the heads of aig,Lehman Brothers, hsbc, the sec and the rest are still free to walk the streets after crashing the us economy in 2008 the these teachers shouldnt go to jail either…what wall street and the big banks did hurt eb
very single one of us and our kids and grandchildren will continue to be hurt by their oligarchy that continues to plague us…but yes lets lock up these teacher for a good long time..and oh yeah lock up boomquisha too :smh: sellin dem foodstamps
@Taken
So you don’t think their lives will be altered by being in a grade they clearly should not be in? At all in any way??? High School students that are reading/writing/rithmatickin on a 6th grade level… Nope you’re right that won’t affect their futures at all. Somebody gotta flip burgers and tell folks howdy at WalMart or better yet they can just get a check
7 days in jail is fine for the crime they committed.
I’ll let you wear my #Arothland souvenier
*****
I went to Arothland and all I got was this sweatshirt
I think they should get probation/restitution/community service..not jail time
I was like this some 
because I waited all day for the finale… 9 good out of 10 bootleg movies ain’t bad though…DJM 
In other news, I decided to have a Fast and Furious marathon yesterday. I watched all 6 movies anxiously awaiting the 7th. All the other movies played perfectly but, the new one, head in the way, shuffling of the camera, low volume, black screen…
*looks at the e calendar*
I ain’t in that crew..
I still ain’t got my bc.. Let me call today
ION V is it a new set of folks on they period?
Actually wayment
WASTE/USER when we up
yeah lock up boomquisha too sellin dem foodstamps
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:stop:
I need boomquisha right about now. 
Why you being so crass? It’s okay to do the education prior to making insensitive azz comments
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All we do is make insensitive ass comments… and I ended my “insensitive ass comment” with he didn’t have to die… I ain’t completely heartless.
is it a new set of folks on they period
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Last day. TO-DAY! I’ve been a hurtin’ hellion these past few days. Lawd! Mind been GONE. Felt like it was being snatched out my head and laid tween my legs on a mattress. LOL
@MISSY eye said what I said
Now seriously if you saw what I wrote I said IF this went on for a prolonged amount of time (years) then yes it can affect them. I said I didn’t recall hearing that was the case but I couldn’t be wrong. But what I am saying is that if someone in HS is reading on a 6th grade level it should have been caught by someone before it got to that point. Someone being the parent or a school administrator. It shouldn’t start/end with the teacher and a test. Period.
Soooo what we eating for lunch today?
I went to Arothland and all I got was this sweatshirt
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Got those on sale too. What color you want? LOL I’m a business, maaannn! LOL
My . tracker says I’m about 10 days out
@Love, good diversion, I tried, I had fried chicken. You?
lovezoe says:
Soooo what we eating for lunch today?
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Seafood scampi. And you?
.<—I don't know why this made me laugh…
Black, purple and
you got pink? I’ma line em up next to my Black Owned sweatshirts 
All we do is make insensitive ass comments… and I ended my “insensitive ass comment” with he didn’t have to die… I ain’t completely heartless.
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Well I am upset because*long inhale* that’s my aunt up there with the natural. She make the BESS tater salad and I don’t eat Mannie people tater salad so she got to be out of jail by summer for the fan reunion
@taken
for some kids, falling behind in second or third grade can lead to them dropping out in a couple of years. and some of the parents did complain about the disparity in grades vs test scores. you and I were fortunate to have parents who instilled in us from a young age the value of a solid education, and from that we took it upon ourselves to strive for good grades. everybody don’t get that at home. for some kids having a teacher/teachers at school that encourage hold them accountable is the only support they get – period.
teachers have an even greater impact on a child’s belief in their intelligence than their parents because the teacher is the person correcting, praising, etc. in the moment you are learning a new concept, new word, etc. parents praise and reinforce when you get home, but we can all remember the best and worst teacher(s) we had throughout our school years.
imo, teaching is one of those professions that requires a higher moral compass than others – like doctors and firemen. they have a direct and lasting impact on a person’s life in the moment. we don’t agree, that’s cool.
I need to get on said tracker for my mental sanity. Send me a link to yours. Not yours yours but one
Every time I go to the doc and they be like when was your last . I be like :thinkinh: unless I just had it. Sometimes I make it up like BISH YOU GUESSED IT
I have some leftover Chipolte and then I made a smoothie that I will have for snack later.
@BOOTCAMPGIRL: You’re still buying DVD bootlegs?
Just go to a website & watch them. It’s so many out there to use. They only reason I go to the theatre now is for pure support #Furious7. Other than that, I wait until after opening weekend & pop my laptop open 
@WHITTY on the fundamentals of what you said I agree. It’s just about it being the end all be all that I disagree with. They can definitely be reached and taught. If Fantasia can go back and get her GED lil Craig in 4th grade can learn common core starting today. It’s not fair but it’s still manageable. I think we underestimate our children when we act like they can’t come back from stuff like this. Now that there has been a wrong and we know it we can fix it. But like you said we can agree to disagree
Jimmy and Madge
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… So MISTAKEN will be in court like ” Your Honor, this is not my favorite auntie but nevertheless she is still my auntie. Please dont be harsh on her as our Family Reunion is approaching & I dont eat no one else Tater Salad but hers. If she’s in custody , my auntie Vern may volunteer & everyone knows her house is nasty. On behalf of my family
we beg of you sir, please dont do it”
I say that because the teachers shouldn’t of had total control to be able to manipulate these kids’ futures without any checks and balances…
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there were school administrators and principals involved in this. it wasn’t just teachers. so yes, there were kids who got to high school on an elementary reading level because the higher ups were covering up what they were doing.
there were parents of high school children who spoke out about the effects on their children, but they were shushed up and shut out by the powers-that-be within APS.
#missyJSays says:
@Taken
So you don’t think their lives will be altered by being in a grade they clearly should not be in? At all in any way??? High School students that are reading/writing/rithmatickin on a 6th grade level… Nope you’re right that won’t affect their futures at all. Somebody gotta flip burgers and tell folks howdy at WalMart or better yet they can just get a check
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I will say their lives can be altered by them being in a grade they aren’t suppose to be in. But if that’s the case, then we should lock their parents up too for not cracking down on it as well. Lock up everybody, sh!t1
Hell, didn’t they raise the minimum wage at burger joints (I’m thinking about taking my tenure and college educated self to one of these spots and get the perks of free food AND a fast food salary – this 9 to 5 ain’t cuttin it….forreal). And the way the economy is set up, we’ll all be a Walmart greeter in due time. IJS 
But seriously, all jokes aside. I know a parent, friend, guardian, etc., seen that some of these kids had learning issues and could have did something about it before it got to THIS. Jail time, tho’?
I think we underestimate our children when we act like they can’t come back from stuff like this. Now that there has been a wrong and we know it we can fix it.
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i’m not saying they can’t recover, but for a large percentage of them that won’t be the case. these were low income schools where this occurred, so the kids were already considered “at risk”. but whether or not the kids can recover doesn’t negate the behavior of the educators involved. it was callous, willful and reckless. there was no regard on their part for those kids. that’s what bothers me the most.
I don’t feel sorry for them – yes this is wrong but when are black people gonna stop trying to do and get away with crimes white folks can do every day with immunity… just stay on the straight and narrow and stay out the court system it is not designed to benefit you… and lets be real they weren’t helping anybody but themselves…. sometimes we are our own worst enemies….
more food for thought – why is it the teachers fault that your 16 year old reads at a 2nd grade level – at what point do the parents take accountability for their dumb azz gene pool or lack of parenting skills….