APS superintendent provides one-year update on investigation into the test cheating scandal

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On July5, Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. posted an open letter to students,parents, employees and the public in general on the Atlanta Public Schoolswebsite updating the progress made in the test cheating investigation over thepast year. The following is the text of that letter
Dear APS students, parents,employees, and supporters,

Erroll B. Davis Jr. 

Much progress has been made inaddressing district educators accused of wrongdoing by state investigators inthe spring 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) case.

A year ago, state investigatorsreleased their report that named 178 APS employees for participating in varioustesting improprieties associated with the conduct of the 2009 CRCT. Aftertaking a few days to read the 400-page report, I either removed or placed everyemployee named in the document on administrative leave. I also replaced 43principals and the four regional administrators over the schools.

At the time, I was constrainedfrom taking further action against most of these employees because the evidenceneeded to move forward was in the hands of the Fulton County District Attorney,who was reviewing the material gathered by the state investigators forpotential criminal charges. In the meantime, most of the employees named in thereport remained on administrative leave with pay while the wheels of justiceslowly turned.

Late last year, the FultonCounty District Attorney permitted APS attorneys to review evidence in selectedcases so that we could begin the process of preparing administrative cases toterminate employees accused of wrongdoing. I am pleased to report that we haveexperienced progress in this area.

To date, 10 educators have beenterminated through the tribunal process. One hundred and twenty-seven employeesnamed in the report have resigned or retired. One employee was exonerated by atribunal. Twelve employees have been reinstated because of insufficientevidence to bring administrative cases against them. And only about 30employees remain on administrative leave from this matter.

Judging by the progress thathas been made in resolving these cases so far, my expectation is that the vastmajority of these cases will be adjudicated within in the next several months.Tribunal hearings are scheduled through August for the remaining employeesnamed in the investigation report. And, I am fairly confident that none of theeducators named in the report will be on the payroll by the end of the calendaryear, except for those reinstated because of a lack of evidence to bringadministrative cases against them.

I have believed all along thatthe only way to finally put this sad episode behind us is to effectively dealwith the individuals who stand accused by state investigators of activelyparticipating in testing improprieties and cheating. If they are culpable, itis vitally important for these individuals to be off the district payroll andout of APS once and for all. 

Over the past several years, wehave instituted highly effective measures to ensure the integrity of thetesting environment since the spring 2009 CRCT administration. These measuresinclude locked safe rooms to store testing materials in all schools thatrequire keys and electronic access cards for entry; security envelopes withtamper-proof safety strips to hold test forms and answer sheets; the two-personrule for counting and accounting for testing materials; and strict chain ofcustody procedures for accessing and handling testing materials. 

I have also emphasizedwith employees the importance of adhering to the highest ethical standards ineverything they do in the workplace. In my view, ethics should always be moreimportant than achieving goals and targets. Under my administration, ethicsviolations will always be much more severely punished than other performance issues.This is vitally important for us because despite policies and procedures put inplace to make cheating and other improprieties more difficult, it is much moreeffective to have ethical employees who would never get involved in wrongdoingregardless of the opportunity to do so because their values and the district’sculture doesn’t condone it. My effort from here will be to continue to drivethis culture change throughout the organization. Only when that happens will webe able to finally move beyond this scandal with a minimal risk ofreoccurrence.
Sincerely,
Superintendent Erroll B. Davis, Jr.