Just before 8 p.m. Tuesday, former Atlanta Public School Superintendent, Dr. Beverly Hall turned herself in to Fulton County authorities. Hall is considered the lead conspirator in the APS, CRCT cheating scandal that has rocked the district and is bringing down 34 more APS educators all expected to surrender to authorities by Tuesday's end.
It was speculated that Hall would seek to have a recommended bond of 7.5 million dollars reduced. Tuesday afternoon Hall learned that her bond would be reduced to $200,000. Attorneys for Hall and some other defendants have been able to negotiate bond reductions with District Attorney Paul Howard.
The first five of 35 indicted Atlanta Public School educators in the APS, CRCT test cheating scandal turned themselves in to the Fulton County Jail overnight and Tuesday morning. An additional five more people surrendered Tuesday afternoon. Tameka Goodson, a former school improvement specialist at Kennedy Middle School was the first to turn herself in just after midnight. At that time her bond was set at $200,000.
Just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, Donald Bullock, a former testing coordinator of Usher Collier Heights Elementary School turned himself into the Fulton County jail.
About 7 a.m. former Benteen Elementary School testing coordinator, Theresia Copeland surrendered at the jail.
Around 11 a.m., former Parks Middle School assistant principal Gregory Reid, and former Parks Middle School's Success-For-All facilitator Sandra Ward also surrendered to Fulton authorities.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, five more APS educators had turned themselves in to authorities including: Lisa Terry and Ingrid Abella-Sly, both former proctors at Humphries Elementary School; former teacher Starlette Mitchell of Parks Elementary; Sheridan Rogers a former test coordinator at Gideons Elementary School; and Angela Williamson a former teacher of Dobbs Elementary School.
As of 6 p.m.18 others educators had still not arrived at the Fulton County Jail.
To view a list of all indicted educators and thier specific charges visit the Fulton County D.A.Office website.
Each are facing all or some combination of the 65 count indictment which includes: racketeering (RICO), theft by taking, false statements and writings, influencing witnesses and false swearing. The charges stem from evidence of widespread, long-term test cheating on the state’s standardized Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) including massive erasures changing wrong answers to right ones. The incidents date back to spring of 2009.
At least two other indicted Atlanta Public School educators attempted to turn themselves in on Monday, but a processing glitch with warrant not being in the system delayed their efforts. That problem was fixed as of 5 p.m. Monday.
On Friday, March 29, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the Grand Jury’s indictments that named six principals, two assistant principals, six testing coordinators, 14 teachers, a school improvement specialist, a school secretary and four high-level executive administrators in addition to former Superintendent, Dr. Beverly Hall.
Beverly Hall is a key target in the state's investigation. It is expected that lower ranked educators may work out plea deals against high level administrators like Hall, in exchange for no prosecution. If convicted, Hall faces up to 45 years in prison.
According to the 90 page indictment:
APS principals and teachers were frequently told by Beverly Hall and her subordinates that excuses for not meeting targets would not be tolerated. When principals and teachers could not reach their targets, their performance was criticized, their jobs were threatened and some were terminated. Over time, the unreasonable pressure to meet actual APS targets leads some employees to cheat on the CRCT. The refusal of Beverly Hall and her top administrators to accept anything other than satisfying targets created an environment there achieving the desired end result was more important than the students’ education.
To satisfy annual targets and Annual yearly Progress (AYP), test answer sheets were altered, fabricated, and falsely certified. Test scores that were inflated as a result of cheating were purported to be the actual achievement of targets through legitimately obtained improvements in students’ performance when, in fact, the conspirators knew those results had been obtained through cheating and did not reflect students’ actual academic performance.
The indictment also charges that under the direction of Beverly Hall, the school system, individual educators and Hall herself were rewarded both financially and with verbal praise for producing high CRCT scores. Whistle blowers on the other hand were penalized and even fired.
A total of 178 APS educators and 44 schools were named in the 2011 report that detailed the test cheating on the state’s standardized Criterion-Referenced Competency Test.
Monday night parents protested before the Atlanta Public School Board meeting and spoke out angrily during the meeting. They called for a moratorium on standardized test and demanded that the school system do more to help students who fell behind because of false testing results.
The Atlanta Public School cheating scandal is noted as one of the largest testing scandals in the nation.
Three educators spoke out to the media on Monday and told Channel 2 Action News that they are ready for the trial to prove their innocence.
The Fulton County D.A. Office has set up a tip line for any information the public can give related to the case. The number is 1-855-APS-Tips.
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