Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal Testimony Paints Damning Picture

Monday, October 20th, and Tuesday, October 21st, saw testimony from former Atlanta Public Schools teachers, who backed up the racketeering and cheating charges in the federal trial against 12 former teachers and administrators.

On Monday, former teacher Margaret Merkerson testified that she got plastic gloves from the cafeteria to wear while changing answers on her students’ tests.

“I just didn’t like the feeling that I had,” she said, because she knew that cheating on tests is wrong. She admitted that she changed test answers for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in the summer of 2008 and the spring of 2009.

“I confessed the first day,” she testified. “I had had a lot of problems sleeping. … I knew these were the big boys.”

Merkerson also testified against one of the defendants, former Deerwood Elementary School assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan, who is one of the 12 defendants facing racketeering charges. Merkerson alleged that Jordan encouraged cheating on the tests as a way for the school to meet targets for federal test scores.

Jordan’s attorney, however, pointed out that Merkerson’s testimony was contradictory to interviews and prior testimony.

Another Deerwood teacher, Roxanne King, testified that she did not witness cheating or possible racketeering behavior at the school. She said that Jordan did remove six students from her classroom during a re-take of a math test, but she said the students were disruptive so their removal made sense. She also said that she had never been encouraged to cheat, by Jordan or any other school administrators.

On Tuesday, however, more witnesses claimed that former assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan encouraged them to change student answers to meet federal standards.

“We termed it as trying to help students,” said Lavonia Farrell during her day long testimony. She taught for 34 years at Deerwood before retiring. “We weren’t trying to cause them any harm.  We were just trying to help them move on.  So it’s something hard to admit that you’ve done something so derogatory as a cheating scandal.”

Farrell also admitted that she initially lied to investigators regarding the Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal, and only came clean when she was offered a plea deal.

According to Farrell’s testimony, when Deerwood failed to meet performance standards in 2008, Jordan rounded up 21 low-performing students and had teachers change their answers.

In April 2013, 35 educators were to report to the Fulton County Jail after being indicted as major players in the now infamous Atlanta Public School Cheating Scandal. A year later, 12 of those suspects in the Atlanta Public School Cheating Scandal have gone to court on federal racketeering charges.

For at least four years – 2005 to 2009 – educators across Atlanta altered test scores and answers on standardized tests to make the school district appear to rapidly improve. At the center of the Atlanta cheating scandal was school superintendent Beverly Hall, who was named National Superintendent of the Year in 2009 for the incredible improvements in her urban school district. School administrators, particularly Ms. Hall, began to put pressure on teachers and test administrators to change students’ test scores to meet federal guidelines and get more grant money from the US government. Some teachers said they were offered bribes in the form of bonuses, and that if they did not comply, they would be fired.

Southeast Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Attorney

Being arrested or investigated for a federal crime, such as fraud, conspiracy, or racketeering, can mean many things. What it does not mean is that you are guilty or that you have no rights. For an experienced criminal defense attorney who will fight for your rights and work to have your charges reduced or even dismissed, contact the federal criminal defense attorney at the Strom Law Firm, today for a no cost consultation to discuss our experience and knowledge of the system can help you. 803.252.4800