Money for nothing

Texas district pays ex-Atlanta school official Augustine $188,000 for day's work
[ajc] A former deputy superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools received $188,000 for the day of work she put in as head of a Texas school district before a test cheating scandal derailed her contract. The DeSoto Independent School District board of trustees canceled Kathy Augustine’s contract as superintendent in July ... While on paid leave she received $31,333. The DeSoto district added to that $156,666 to complete the severance package, the district said in a release this week. The package was equal to what would have been Augustine’s annual pay, officials said.

Remember, dozens of teachers and administrators are on paid leave in Atlanta, awaiting dismissal and / or prosecution. This isn't the last story of its kind we are going to see. I wish I could take comfort that at least the financial payoff will be smaller for most of them... but that's the same pay range as those four Atlanta SRT Directors make. (I wish I could use past tense.)

State panel to consider lighter punishment for educators who cooperated in cheating probe
[ajc] The Professional Standards Commission, which licenses Georgia educators, took the first steps Wednesday to begin its inquiry into test tampering in the city's public schools. ...Commissioners, relying extensively on evidence from the state investigation, will look into each case and decide over the next few months whether the educators named in the report are guilty of cheating or other ethical violations. Those found guilty could face sanctions ranging from a reprimand to loss of a teaching license. But educators found guilty who cooperated with the probe could receive suspensions of 20 to 90 days if commissioners agree to recommendations from the state's Attorney General Office. For those who did not cooperate and are found guilty, state attorneys are recommending a two-year suspension for teachers and license revocation for principals and administrators. ...The commission expects to start deciding cases next month and hopes to have all the cases resolved by January.

Santa had better start stocking up on lumps of coal. So, by January the 90 days will have passed, so I suppose at that time both the "innocent" and "guilty but cooperative" teachers can be back at work. I'd feel better about revoking guilty administrators' teaching licenses if I was certain that one actually needs a license to hold a non-teaching position in the first place.

It cheers me to remember that the Professional Standards Commission inquiry is only the first step:

In addition to sanctions by the commission, those named in the report could be fired by APS or charged criminally by a Fulton County grand jury. The district is paying about a $1 million a month to employees on administrative leave while it decides when to begin termination hearings. A grand jury is waiting on documents from APS requested in an expansive subpoena.

APS educators and administrators face potential charges of giving false statements to investigators or altering public documents, both of which are felonies with punishment of up to 10 years in prison. School officials who submitted test scores that they knew were false also could face felony charges with penalties of up to five years in prison.

If I were one of these accused teachers, and I were actually honest, I would want the full weight of the law to verify that, openly and publicly. Back-room deals are going to look suspicious, and presumed guilt is almost impossible to dispel.

A Scandal of Cheating, and a Fall From Grace
[New York Times] “I will survive this,” said Dr. Hall, 65, in her first public interview since a scathing 800-page report by state investigators outlined a pervasive pattern of cheating at 44 schools and involving 178 educators. During her reign, scholarship money delivered to Atlanta students jumped to $129 million from $9 million. Graduation rates, while still not stellar, rose to 66 percent, from 39 percent. Seventy-seven schools were either built or renovated, at a cost of about $1 billion.

Does the New York Times not know what "falsified test data" actually means? Do they think that being paid well to lie makes the lies true?

Dr. Hall maintains that she never knowingly allowed cheating and does not condone it, but acknowledges that people under her did.

You hear that, you four SRT Directors? That's the sound of you being thrown under the (school) bus to save Beverly Hall's reputation.

Still, the scope of the report — which she and others argue was overreaching and contained inaccuracies — shocks her. “I can’t accept that there is a culture of cheating,” she said. “What these 178 are accused of is horrific, but we have over 3,000 teachers.”

That's the same flawed defense U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made on her behalf. Most of those 3,000 teachers weren't interviewed. The entire Atlanta Public Schools system wasn't investigated: Only a handful of schools were targeted. 178 implicated teachers over 44 schools works out to damned near all of the teachers working the grade level at which the CRCT is given. All.

The teachers who had those same children the year before and the year after knew what was going on. And they knew what it would cost them to speak up.

She pointed to a June retreat with principals. “The principals who were [supposedly] so intimidated and couldn’t reach me gave me three standing ovations,” she said. “I always felt that the principals respected me but also had a real connection to me.”

Or, they feared for their jobs, just like they told the GBI investigators. Maybe they felt they didn't dare not applaud. Or maybe they actually meant it. Goodness knows Hall can talk purty when she wants to.

She remains personally stung by how she is being portrayed by the local news media, especially The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which began investigating potential cheating in 2008 and has continued to dig deep into Dr. Hall’s performance.

She did her best, she and her friends on the Chamber of Commerce. They tried to "finesse" the Governor with a hand-picked "Blue Ribbon Commission" of investigators. But those damned numbers still didn't add up.

She was taken to task for her car and driver, an Atlanta police officer on the school district payroll who made nearly $100,000 a year, including overtime. (“You can’t get around this system and do what’s asked of you if you are thinking about parking,” Dr. Hall said.)

Here's a radical notion: How about putting your offices in a neighborhood where you don't have to pay to park? (Like every other Board of Education in the state does?) There's no particular reason APS has to be across the street from City Hall and the State Capitol, other than an inflated sense of your own prestige. Let's see, where are we going to find a building with enough room and parking...? Say, I know. How about one (or two) of those empty buildings you aren't using and can't sell? The ones that used to be full of students? The schools you closed because families were abandoning the City of Atlanta by the thousands? Those buildings not good enough for you?

Dear me, I'm getting too excited. Where's my masseur?