A tale of two cities

Yes, I know, it's a cliché headline. They get to be clichés because they work.

AJC | APS could pay those named in cheating probe $6 million
Atlanta Public Schools will use $6 million from savings to pay the salaries and benefits of educators named in the state cheating investigation, if the board gives approval tonight.
Almost 200 teachers, principals and staff were implicated in a state cheating investigation last month. Of those named, 126 people are on administrative leave awaiting a due process hearing. The rest have resigned or retired.

The phrase I used to describe what those 126 employees are doing is "running out the clock". If they get to split six million dollars, you could say they won. On the other hand, the measure is to ensure that the culprits' inevitable payoff won't come at the expense of school operations.

And that's only about $48k each. Not really enough of a payoff to trade one's career for.

Meanwhile, in DeSoto, Texas...

AJC | Former APS administrator's fate up for Dallas-area vote
A suburban Dallas school board is expected to vote Monday night on whether to cut its ties with Kathy Augustine, its newly hired superintendent who has been named in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal.
...Augustine was accused of illegally withholding public documents, making false statements and "aiding and abetting" [Superintendent Beverly] Hall in "falsifying, misrepresenting or erroneously reporting the evaluation of students" on the 2009 CRCT, according to the investigation.

The phrase the report used, and used repeatedly with so many of the named employees, is that she "knew or should have known". Translated, that means "guilty or incompetent". I can't avoid the phrase "didn't run far enough, fast enough."

Breaking news:
AJC | Dallas school district votes for Augustine removal
AJC | The APS cheating scandal casts a long shadow, all the way to Texas
AJC | Atlanta school board picks new, temporary member
AJC | APS takes $6 million from savings to pay accused teachers