Two more former teachers pleaded guilty Monday in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating scandal, admitting they helped students correct wrong answers on standardized tests.
The pleas mean four defendants have now admitted criminal wrongdoing, and more are expected to plead guilty this week. The judge overseeing the case has set a Jan. 6 deadline for APS defendants to reach negotiated pleas with the prosecution.
The guilty pleas are expected to make it even more uncomfortable for a number of the remaining 30 people charged in the sweeping racketeering case. Former Dobbs Elementary School teacher Shayla Smith and former Benteen Elementary School teacher Sheila Evans both agreed to cooperate and testify for the prosecution in the trial scheduled next spring.
Like they did in the prior guilty pleas, prosecutors dismissed felony charges of racketeering against Smith and Evans and let them plead guilty to a single misdemeanor count of obstruction. The former educators were sentenced to a year on probation and ordered to serve 250 hours of community service. They also were given first-offender treatment, meaning if they successfully abide by all the terms of their probation they can have their convictions erased.
Defense attorney Noah Pines, who is not involved in the APS case, said the guilty pleas make a lot of sense, given the favorable terms being offered by prosecutors.
“There’s a cost-benefit analysis to these people getting out of the case,” he said. “They face a felony charge and possible prison time if they’re convicted. They could also spend at least three months next year at trial and be acquitted — or get first offender now and be done with it.”
Smith, 32, began teaching fourth-grade students at Dobbs Elementary in 2006. The school’s principal and testing coordinator put enormous pressure on Dobbs’ teachers during that time, lead prosecutor Fani Willis said when outlining the plea agreement.
Dobbs’ teachers were told to meet test targets “by any means necessary,” Willis said. Smith was told if her students did not excel, she should look for another job, Willis said.
During the 2007 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, the prosecutor said, Smith “felt she had no choice.” She changed students’ answers during that test and, on tests the next two years, told her students when their answers were wrong so they could correct them, Willis said.
Smith is expected to testify that she saw her Dobbs Elementary colleagues — teachers Derrick Broadwater and Angela Williamson — change their students’ answers as well, Willis said. Smith is also expected to offer damaging testimony against her former principal, Dana Evans, and against regional director Michael Pitts, the prosecutor said. All four of these defendants are charged in the racketeering indictment and have pleaded not guilty.
In a letter to Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter, Smith called what she had done “one of my biggest mistakes and regrets. … I apologize to every child affected.
Sheila Evans, 51, taught third-graders at Benteen Elementary and was twice named teacher of the year during her 24-year career at APS, her lawyer, Andrew Fiddes, said.
But she also admitted to improperly assisting some of her students correct wrong answers on the 2009 CRCT, Willis said.
Evans is expected to testify against testing coordinator Theresia Copeland, another defendant in the case who has pleaded not guilty, Evans’ plea agreement said.
In her letter of apology, Evans said the Atlanta school system was infected by a “sickness” that was “deliberately cultivated” by those at the highest levels.
The pressure was “great and constant” for teachers to meet unrealistic test goals, though that did not excuse her actions, she said.
Evans said she wished she had spoken out when she had the chance. The public light being put on the scandal has been the “best disinfectant,” she added. “We’re all the better for it.”
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