Judge sentences ex-educators to jail in test cheating case

ATLANTA – All but one of 10 former Atlanta public school educators convicted in a widespread conspiracy to inflate student scores on standardized tests were sentenced to jail Tuesday, and the judge called the cheating scandal “the sickest thing that’s ever happened in this town.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter had delayed sentencing by a day and encouraged all to negotiate deals with prosecutors. But only two agreed to deals. In both those cases, Baxter followed the state’s recommendations: He gave a former teacher a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew at home for one year and a former testing coordinator six months of weekends spent in jail. They’ll also serve five years on probation.

Despite their lawyers’ pleas for probation and community service, the remaining eight received harsher sentences, ranging from one to seven years in jail. They are expected to appeal and will be free on bond while the appeals are pending.

A state investigation found that as far back as 2005, educators in the 50,000-student Atlanta school system fed answers to students or erased and changed answers on tests after they were turned in. Evidence of cheating was found in 44 schools with nearly 180 educators involved, and teachers who tried to report it were threatened with retaliation.

In 2013, 35 educators were indicted on charges including racketeering, making false statements and theft. Many pleaded guilty before the trial, and some testified at the monthslong trial. The jury acquitted one of the 12 former educators who went to trial and convicted the other 11 of racketeering.

“This was very, very remarkable, to have the judge sort of give the defendants a second chance,” said University of Georgia law professor emeritus Ron Carlson. “The thing that maybe was a little surprising was the reticence of the defendants to step forward and do that.”

Bob Rubin, who represented former elementary school principal Dana Evans, said the decision to turn down the deal wasn’t hard for his client.

“She couldn’t say something that wasn’t true,” he said, referring to the insistence by the prosecution and the judge that the negotiated deals include an acceptance of responsibility.

Those who took the deals – former teacher Pamela Cleveland and former testing coordinator Donald Bullock – waived their right to appeal. Three regional directors who oversaw multiple schools were ordered to serve seven years in prison.