Former Decatur Principal Indicted for Cheating May Plead This Month

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Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office

The former principal at a Decatur high school is scheduled to enter a plea on charges related to alleged cheating at a pre-trial hearing later this month.

Agnes Flanagan, once the principal of Cedar Grove Middle School in the DeKalb County School District, was indicted on three counts of forgery, three counts of making a false writing, and three counts of public records fraud in 2013. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Flanagan stands accused of changing students’ wrong answers on Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scantrons.

The indictments were handed down just two weeks after 35 educators with Atlanta Public Schools were indicted for a similar cheating incident. Most indicted educators took plea deals, but a dozen defendants decided to take their chances in front of a judge. The complex trial ended last month with the conviction of all but one defendant.

According to The Champion, Flanagan and two other high-ranking DeKalb County school administrators were initially indicted in 2011 but re-indicted in 2013 after new evidence came to light. The Champion adds that two teachers Flanagan ordered to change test answers were cooperating with the prosecution and had agreed to testify against their former boss.

Flanagan is expected in court on May 20.