11 of 12 former Atlanta School Teachers Convicted of Racketeering!
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Darth Sidious
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Atlanta schools cheating scandal: 11 of 12 defendants convicted
(CNN)All but one of 12 defendants charged with racketeering and other crimes in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal were convicted Wednesday.
"We've been fighting for the children in our community, particularly those children who were deprived by this cheating scandal," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said.
Ten of the defendants were taken into custody, while one woman who is pregnant will remain out on bond until sentencing.
All 11 were convicted of racketeering, with a mixture of convictions and acquittals on other charges, including making false statements, CNN affiliate WGCL reported. One teacher was acquitted of all charges.
Howard told reporters sentencing should happen in the coming weeks.
In 2013, a Fulton County grand jury indicted 35 educators from the district, including principals, teachers and testing coordinators.
More than 20 former school system employees took a plea deal, WGCL reported.
A state review had determined that some cheating had occurred in more than half the district's elementary and middle schools. About 180 teachers at 44 schools were implicated initially.
The cheating is believed to date back to early 2001, when scores on statewide skills tests began to turn around in the 50,000-student school district, according to the 2013 indictment.
For at least four years, between 2005 and 2009, test answers were altered, fabricated and falsely certified, the indictment said.
Michael Bowers, a former Georgia attorney general who investigated the cheating scandal said in 2013 that there were "cheating parties," erasures in and out of classrooms, and teachers were told to make changes to student answers on tests.
"Anything that you can imagine that could involve cheating -- it was done," he said at the time.
During his investigation, he heard that educators cheated out of pride, to earn bonuses, to enhance their careers or to keep their jobs, he said.
During the trial, prosecutor Fani Willis told the jury that some students were given the correct answers, CNN affiliate WSB reported.
Investigations into the remarkable -- and suspicious -- improvements on standardized tests were first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper in 2008.
Beverly Hall, the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools who resigned in 2010, was too ill to go to trial; she died in March. Hall repeatedly denied any direct knowledge of wrongdoing
(CNN)All but one of 12 defendants charged with racketeering and other crimes in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal were convicted Wednesday.
"We've been fighting for the children in our community, particularly those children who were deprived by this cheating scandal," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said.
Ten of the defendants were taken into custody, while one woman who is pregnant will remain out on bond until sentencing.
All 11 were convicted of racketeering, with a mixture of convictions and acquittals on other charges, including making false statements, CNN affiliate WGCL reported. One teacher was acquitted of all charges.
Howard told reporters sentencing should happen in the coming weeks.
In 2013, a Fulton County grand jury indicted 35 educators from the district, including principals, teachers and testing coordinators.
More than 20 former school system employees took a plea deal, WGCL reported.
A state review had determined that some cheating had occurred in more than half the district's elementary and middle schools. About 180 teachers at 44 schools were implicated initially.
The cheating is believed to date back to early 2001, when scores on statewide skills tests began to turn around in the 50,000-student school district, according to the 2013 indictment.
For at least four years, between 2005 and 2009, test answers were altered, fabricated and falsely certified, the indictment said.
Michael Bowers, a former Georgia attorney general who investigated the cheating scandal said in 2013 that there were "cheating parties," erasures in and out of classrooms, and teachers were told to make changes to student answers on tests.
"Anything that you can imagine that could involve cheating -- it was done," he said at the time.
During his investigation, he heard that educators cheated out of pride, to earn bonuses, to enhance their careers or to keep their jobs, he said.
During the trial, prosecutor Fani Willis told the jury that some students were given the correct answers, CNN affiliate WSB reported.
Investigations into the remarkable -- and suspicious -- improvements on standardized tests were first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper in 2008.
Beverly Hall, the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools who resigned in 2010, was too ill to go to trial; she died in March. Hall repeatedly denied any direct knowledge of wrongdoing
Comments
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damn, i wish i went to an underwater school
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They were evening out the playing field.
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Cheating is for suckers.
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I wonder why that one was acquitted of everything...
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I saw the story about the convictions on NBC nightly news, the case had gone on for 2 years with over a hundred witnesses. The judge was ? ! He denied bail and they went..
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This is how I got a college degree
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but them whites ? they students and.......
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I seen this on yahoo earlier, they're all ? . The judge is goin 2 hard on them imo tho, all of them are forced 2 sit in jail till they go to trial...smh..
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Im an APS grad. Doug High to be exact. ? ? up man. not a good look
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Jail time though?
Suspending their teacher licenses indefinitely would be punishment enough.
Some of those educators don't have any common sense or any grasp of the legal system.
The smart ones were the 20 who took the plea deal.
Don't know what 12 who went to trial were thinking.
Guess that's what happens when people watch too much Law & Order and think they can game the system. -
Black_Samson wrote: »? _i_look_like wrote: »I seen this on yahoo earlier, they're all ? . The judge is goin 2 hard on them imo tho, all of them are forced 2 sit in jail till they go to trial...smh..
They ? the future up
This started in 2001 right? No Child Left Behind Act was just getting started, it messed up alot of teachers because forbid if one kid couldn't pass a test that teacher get fired or reassigned no matter how legit good the teacher was, and also the schools district loses money.
Just something to think about.
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Jail time though?
Suspending their teacher licenses indefinitely would be punishment enough.
Some of those educators don't have any common sense or any grasp of the legal system.
The smart ones were the 20 who took the plea deal.
Don't know what 12 who went to trial were thinking.
Guess that's what happens when people watch too much Law & Order and think they can game the system.
I got a cousin that got caught up in the whole thing for shredding papers and then got caught lying about it to the grand jury...she took the plea deal and turned state's witness to avoid jail time. -
? forbid they teach the youth...
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No child left behind has left alot children behind
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So the 12th one cut a deal?
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So the 12th one cut a deal?
Nah the 12th one they just couldn't pin anything on her...there were way more teachers/admins who were charged but most of them cut deals..only 13 tried to plead innocent..11 were found guilty, 1 died before the verdict and then the 1 just got acquitted -
Was the one that got acquitted black too? -
Was the one that got acquitted black too?
Yea older black lady..looked like she in her 60s...
Interesting fact tho..she was the only one who had a white attorney
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Was the one that got acquitted black too?
Yea older black lady..looked like she in her 60s...
Interesting fact tho..she was the only one who had a white attorney
Interesting indeed -
but them whites ? they students and.......
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You obviously missed those threads where the teacher got off with out having to register as a sex offender. Although she does have another case pending.