Cheating Scandal Results In Prison Time For Atlanta Educators

In Atlanta, sentencing hearing was held for the Atlanta educators convicted as part of the massive school cheating scandal that involved inflating the test scores of children from struggling schools in the Atlanta Public Schools system. The corruption within the city’s public school system was first investigated by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigative journalism team. Some of the educators received prison sentences while others received community service sentences and fines.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter sentenced the educators one by one as they stood beside their attorneys in his courtroom.

• Former schools executive Michael Pitts was sentenced to seven years in prison, must perform 2,000 hours of community service and must pay a $25,000 fine.

• Former schools administrator Tamara Cotman was also sentenced to seven years in prison, must perform 2,000 hours of community service and must pay a $25,000 fine.

• Former teacher Angela Williamson was sentenced to two years in prison, was ordered perform 1,500 hours of community service and must pay a $5,000 fine.

• Former assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan was also sentenced to two years in prison, must perform 1,500 hours of community service and must pay $5,000 in fines.

• Former principal Dana Evans was ordered to serve one year in prison and perform 1,000 hours of community service.

• Former test coordinator Theresia Copeland was also ordered to serve one year in prison, perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine.

• Former teacher Diane Buckner-Webb was the third educator sentenced to one year in prison, as well as ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine.

• Former testing coordinator Donald Bullock was ordered to serve six months of weekends behind bars, five years of probation, perform 1,500 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine.

• Former teacher Pamela Cleveland was ordered to serve one year of house arrest, perform 1,000 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine.

In the final days of the five-month trial, Baxter allowed prosecutors to offer deals to the educators that provided them with a way to avoid the possible 20-year sentence that some of the convictions carried. However, some of the educators did not directly admit their responsibility during the sentencing hearing, as would be expected under a deal with the prosecution. This led to friction during the sentencing hearing, in which Baxter reportedly raised his voice multiple times and there were accounts of the judge and the attorneys shouting at each other several times.