Atlanta Public School Cheating Scandal

The Atlanta Public School cheating scandal  trial is over, Each of these former educators have been sentenced. People are  bleating that they need to be let go and not punished. I would ask these people if they fell and hit their head? It did not happen just once and I'll tell why I feel that way. This was not a crime that had no victims.

I was in down town Atlanta paying bills several years back. Because I got tired, I stopped and brought a cup of coffee. While sitting outside, I heard a sad conversation that a young man was having with his mother on his phone. I heard him make the following statement to his mother.

"I graduated high school and I can't read this letter. Ma, I don't know what to do!"

At this point, I turned around and offered my help. He had an important legal letter that required he respond promptly. I could see that he was still upset.  So I had him pull his phone out and turn on the record function. Then I read the letter into the phone. I said what the letter meant into the phone. Then I recorded what he was being required to do step by step. I turned the phone off and asked him what he was going to about his serious lack of education for a high school graduate. To survive in this century, he needed to be able to read

 Because of the nature of his letter, I told him he need to learn to read. It would make things go a little easier on him. In my purse, I had a handout from the library on free educational classes. At this time, I turned his phone recorder on and read into it  all schedules for the learning to read classes. As he left, I wished him well.

These educators claimed they did what they did in order to keep their jobs. Every profession that I know of has a section on legalities during their school time. A student learns  what it means to break the law in regards to their chosen  profession. They also learn what the punishment is. These educators did what I consider to be the worst possible lie. They lied to themselves so well they believed it.

I read some information from the following links before posting. The rest of the information, I obtained from local news channels,

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/us/georgia-atlanta-public-schools-cheating-scandal-verdicts/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/one-educator-accepts-plea-deal-atlanta-cheating-case-n341256

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/67-more-aps-educators-punished-cheating-scandal/nMX52/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/04/01/how-and-why-convicted-atlanta-teachers-cheated-on-standardized-tests/