Punishment For Cheating In Atlanta Schools: 7 Years In Prison

A judge slammed teachers and administrators convicted of inflating test results for Atlanta Public Schools students with stiff prison time Tuesday morning, bringing an end to an ugly and divisive chapter to one of the largest cheating scandals in the nation’s history.

School Resource Team Executive Directors Sharon Davis-Williams, Tamara Cotman, and Michael Pitts, whose jobs were to focus on turning around the troubled district, were each sentenced to 20 years, with seven to serve in prison, numerous media outlets, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reported. The executives must also complete 2,000 hours of community service and pay a $25,000 fine.

Investigators found 250,000 test answers were altered during a two-year investigation at 58 Atlanta schools. Ten APS educators were found guilty on racketeering charges by a Fulton County jury April 1. Some defendants were also convicted on charges of making false statements and false swearing.

In 2013, 35 APS employees, including Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, were indicted in connection to the case. Twenty-one of the defendants pleaded guilty before trial. One defendant died prior to trial. Hall, who had been battling advanced stage breast cancer, was unable to participate in the trial and died last month.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys had been working for days, under the prodding of Judge Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court, to come to an agreement on sentencing that would have spared most of the defendants any prison time at all.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard offered each of the 11 convicted defendants a deal which would have allowed them to serve weekends in jail instead of prison time in exchange for admitting guilt and surrendering their right to appeal.

Only B.E. Usher and Collier Heights Elementary testing coordinator Donald Bullock and former Dunbar Elementary School teacher Pamela Cleveland accepted the deal; Bullock was sentenced to 6 months of weekends in jail, 5 years of probation, 1,500 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine. Cleveland was sentenced to five years’ probation with one year of home confinement from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., 1,000 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine.

Despite the prison sentences, Judge Baxter reluctantly granted all convicted defendants “first offender status,” which will seal their convictions once their sentences are complete and prevent them from being felons for life. Additionally, Baxter wants the convicted educators to spend their community service hours teaching people in the community.

According to NPR, Baxter said the cheating scandal was, “the sickest thing that’s ever happened in this town.”

“When we indicted this case our goal was not to make a spectacle of the Atlanta Public School system,” Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement released after the verdicts were announced on April 1. “It was our attempt to encourage the people in our community to stop and take an honest look at what was happening in our schools and how changing test scores was ultimately harming our children.”

We stand here today proud of our efforts, proud that we embarked upon a journey of truth, regardless of how long or arduous the task. We are certain today that our work has not been in vain.”

Additional sentences:

• Former Dobbs Elementary Principal Dana Evans was sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, with 1,000 hours of community service.
• Former Dobbs Elementary teacher Angela Williamson was sentenced to five years, with two to serve in prison, with 1,500 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.
• Former Dunbar Elementary teacher Diane Buckner-Webb was sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, with 1,000 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.
• Former Benteen Elementary testing coordinator Theresia Copeland was sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, 1,000 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine.