Punishment For Cheating In School: 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 nation’s largest cheating scandals in history.

Sharon Davis-Williams, an executive whose job was to focus on turning the troubled district around, was sentenced to 20 years, with seven to serve in prison, numerous media outlets, including the Atlanta Journal-Consitution, reported. Davis-Williams must also complete 2,000 hours of community service and pay a $25,000 fine.

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.

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.

MORE UPDATES:

• Judge Baxter wants each convicted educator to spend their community service hours teaching people in the community.
• Former Dunbar Elementary teacher Pamela Cleveland has read an apology statement before Judge Baxter, and has accepted DA Paul Howard’s plea deal of 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.
• Former Benteen Elementary Testing Coordinator Theresia Copeland has been sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, 1,000 hours of community service, and a $1,000 fine.
• Judge Baxter has 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.
• Former Dunbar Elementary teacher Diane Buckner-Webb has been sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, with 1,000 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.
• Former Dobbs Elementary Teacher Angela Williamson has been sentenced to five years, with two to serve in prison, with 1,500 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.
• Former Dobbs Elementary Principal Dana Evans has been sentenced to five years, with one to serve in prison, with 1,000 hours of community service.

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

So far, only testing coordinator Donald Bullock has accepted the deal; he was sentenced to 6 months of weekends in jail, 5 years of probation, 1,500 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine.

Fellow former School Reform Team Executive Director Tamara Cotman received a similar 20 year sentence with seven to serve behind bars, 2,000 hours of community service, and must also pay a $25,000 fine, WSB-TV reports.

10 of the 11 APS educators were found guilty on racketeering charges by a Fulton County jury on April 1 after a grueling trial which has spanned several months. Some defendants were also convicted on charges of making false statements and false swearing.

“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. “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.”

The district attorney’s office assembled a task force to expand upon an investigation carried out in 2011 by the office of Gov. Nathan Deal into allegations testing irregularities and cheating at APS schools on the 2008 and 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT). According to the district attorney’s office, their two-year-long probe discovered over 250,000 wrong-to-write erasures from tests taken at 58 of the 73 schools included in the investigation.

In 2013, 35 APS employees, including Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall, were indicted in connection to the case. 21 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.