Some learning lessons, others skipping class

And the pot just keeps on boilin'.

One aspect of the APS CRCT scandal that isn't getting the attention it deserves is the suspension of four deputy superintendents, or "SRT Directors" as the actual job title is.

I put that in quotation marks because I firmly believe that no one who isn't an APS employee has any idea what a "school reform team" is. I also firmly believe they meant for the job title to obscure what they do. That, and "director" sounds so much more prestigious than "deputy superintendent."

I have two reasons I'm mentioning this. One is simply that there has been little follow-up. The second, closely related, is that there had damn well better be. It's widely reported that teachers felt pressure to produce good numbers on the CRCT by any means necessary, in fact feared for their jobs if they didn't. If the source of this pressure isn't identified and removed, the problem isn't solved. This is proven by the fact that no one at APS is being congratulated for having blown the whistle on this. If this were going on in the private sector, the whistle-blowers would be household names by now.

Even if Superintendent Hall did know (she's sticking with the Bart Simpson defense, "I didn't do it nobody saw me you can't prove anything"), she couldn't possibly have created this situation alone. And anybody "downstream" from the SRT Directors (like the teachers and principals who are being fired as we speak) would have gone to them if they'd had any expectation that they would have found help there. And in the private sector it would have worked. I can think of only one reason why they didn't do that.

Anyway. Is there more news? Ah, the fourth estate is a ravening beast once awakened. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution now has a blog-like list of their stories (that is, newest first, moving further back in time as you read) available for your reading pleasure.

Here's a recap (in oldest-to-newest order).

APS Timeline: The Story So Far

A Study of What Went Wrong

Cheating may force APS to pay back nearly $1 million

This is federal money that was obtained on the basis of test scores now known to be falsified.

APS to teachers in scandal: Resign or be fired

C'mon, man, it isn't just about the teachers! They weren't being pressured to cheat by each other.

Few step down in APS cheating scandal

Ah, there are those SRT Directors. "The trickle came as the district acknowledged for the first time it continued to pay more than $550,000 in combined annual salaries for four area superintendents relieved of their duties because of the scandal." They're still on the payroll at a six-figure income each? They're laughing.

APS leaders, teachers will fight for their jobs

"Sharon Davis-Williams, Michael Pitts, Robin Hall and Tamara Cotman, all area superintendents named in the cheating report, told Channel 2 Action News they did not cheat or condone cheating in the local schools they oversaw. An attorney representing the four said there are no documents proving his clients cheated." Ah, the Bart Simpson defense again. Not the point, ladies and gentlemen. It was your job to put a stop to it. 

I'll take this comment out of the bullet point so you can't miss it.

If you knew about it, you're guilty as home-made sin. If you didn't know, you're irredeemably incompetent. If you sincerely think, even now, that it wasn't happening, you're in denial to the point of being delusional. Which one do you want to admit?

If I were a betting man, I'd put money on option "D": Your plan is to duck and cover and wait for the storm to blow over (which you're convinced it will because, even now, you don't believe you've done anything wrong), then use every scrap of your remaining political pull to make life hell for anyone who might have blown any whistles.

I want to think that the reason the SRT Directors aren't more in the limelight now is that the Interim Superintendent knows that there are still some innocent people vulnerable to their machinations.

Seven APS employees step down in scandal

That's how many acted before the deadline.

More resign or retire in face of APS cheating scandal

The first seven were named: This late batch (who did miss the Supt's deadline) weren't. Look, I don't want to dump on the teachers unnecessarily, they were under a great deal of pressure. And as soon as anyone makes noise about going after the source of that pressure, I'll shut up.

13 principals named in cheating scandal leave APS

This is a bit misleading. Ten of these principals named in the GBI report departed before the report was released, never mind before the Interim Superintendent's deadline. At least one has been out for years. I just lost a lot of confidence that anyone yet knows what's actually going on.

Out-of-work teachers see APS cheating scandal as an opportunity to work

Just to show it's an ill wind that blows nobody good.