The Atlanta Journal-Constitution October 12, 2011 First punishments to be handed down in APS cheating scandal By Jaime Sarrio A group of Atlanta educators implicated in a districtwide cheating scandal will find out Thursday whether the state will yank their teaching certificates. Those in charge will likely face the stiffest penalties. The Professional Standards Commission will hand down the first formal punishments in one of the largest test-cheating cases in U.S. history. About 180 Atlanta Public Schools employees were implicated and test tampering was uncovered at 44 schools. The commission, which certifies and polices Georgia educators, will decide the fate of about a dozen APS educators Thursday. It is expected to hear cases through January. The commission can issue a range of punishments, from a warning to a certificate revocation. That punishment is separate from APS's efforts to fire the teachers or possible criminal charges. Administrators will be subject to the stiffest punishment, the commission told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Those in charge, from principals to former superintendent Beverly Hall, created a culture that either ignored or should have detected widespread test cheating, the investigation concluded. "Those in leadership have the ability to influence the behavior of many others," said Kelly Henson, executive secretary of the commission. "We felt it should be a more severe sanction." Each case will be considered individually, but the commission has established some punishment guidelines : two years suspension for teachers and certificate revocation for administrators. A revocation could severely damage an educator's public school career, as the sanction would show up in a national database searchable by other states. Already, the cheating scandal has cost one former APS administrator a job. Kathy Augustine, a former deputy superintendent, agreed to step down from her job as superintendent at a suburban Dallas district because she was named in the cheating report. In July, special investigators appointed by former Gov. Sonny Perdue released a groundbreaking report that detailed cheating at APS. The investigation, one of the most aggressive ever commissioned on school cheating, began after a series of articles in the AJC raised questions about improbable gains in some schools. Around 50 educators named in the report resigned or retired, but about 130 are still employed by the district and collecting a salary while they await an outcome to the case. 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. Names of the accused were included in the report, but the commission does not identify the educators it is investigating until a decision is made. The district is paying about $1 million a month to employees on administrative leave while it decides when to begin termination hearings. Even with confessions to test cheating and evidence provided by a team of veteran investigators, teachers have job protection under state law that makes firing them costly and difficult. Superintendent Erroll Davis has refused to allow those implicated to stay on the job; the district is in a holding pattern while it waits for the criminal prosecutors to decide what cases they want to pursue. Davis said he is also waiting to see what action is taken by the commission. "If the remedy they hand down is a license revocation or suspension, I will not have to [go through the legal process of firing teachers] because they will no longer be licensed to teach. So that solves a problem for us," Davis said. He added that a favorable ruling from the commission or the district attorney does not mean the district won't still fire an educator named in the report. Commissioners, relying extensively on evidence from the state investigation, will decide on punishments over the next few months. The commission hopes to have decided all APS cases by January, but that's just the start of the process -- the decisions can be appealed to an administrative law judge, to Superior Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals. An educator's certificate is valid during the appeals process. "Our process could run two years," said Henson,. who recommends districts' proceed with firing cases. "To wait a couple of years until due process runs its course would not seem to be practical." Borquaye Thomas, an attorney for some of the educators awaiting the commission's decision, said his biggest concern is many allegations are based on hearsay. "Unless there is a voluntary confession or a credible eyewitness, how can the PSC (or the local school district for that matter) prove if answers were changed by someone other than the student?" he said. Ernie Suggs contributed to this article. Unmatched coverage Our investigative reporters broke the story about cheating in Atlanta Public Schools in 2008, and we've continued digging ever since. Our commitment to bringing you complete coverage continues with today's report. Next steps: The educators implicated in the state's cheating investigation face loss of teaching certification, termination and for some, criminal charges. The Professional Standards Commission, which oversees the licensing of Georgia educators, hopes to have all certification decisions made by January. Atlanta Public Schools is paying about $1 million a month to about 130 employees on administrative leave while it decides when to begin termination hearings. A grand jury requested an expansive subpoena from the school district, but criminal charges have yet to be filled. SANDRA M. 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